Early menarche in visually impaired girls: evidence and hypothesis of light-dark cycle disruption and blindness effect on puberty onset

ABSTRACT

Puberty onset is tightly regulated by a broad spectrum of neuroendocrine signals and peripheral stimuli which coordinate the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis activation. Numerous studies suggest that light stimulation influences HPG axis function; however, the effect of blindness on puberty timing remains controversial. Given that menarche is a suitable marker for sexual development initiation, the evaluation of the age at which blind girls attain it allows to indirectly assess the effect of light-dark cycle disruption on pubertal development. The present investigation aimed to review the evidence regarding menarcheal age drift in visually impaired girls, as well as to discuss the findings based on the existing hypotheses of the physiological mechanisms linking the light-dark cycle and photic sensitivity loss to the onset of puberty. Eleven studies were retrieved from a literature search conducted in PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and Google Scholar databases. Eight studies concluded that light perception impairment is related to a moderately earlier age at menarche. Moreover, the evidence gathered in this review suggests a positive association between the degree of light perception loss and precocious menarcheal onset; yet, no conclusive outcomes were found regarding menarche advancement in acquired versus congenital blindness. We encourage further research aiming to elucidate the physiological mechanism underlying photosensitive regulation and blindness effect on the neuroendocrine pathways involved in human sexual maturation.

KEYWORDS:

• Menarche
• blindness
• puberty
• photoperiod
• light-dark cycle

Acknowledgements

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Disclosure statement

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Abbreviations

HPG axis – Hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis

NLP – No light perception

LP – Light perception

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.