Korean J Urol.  2012 Dec;53(12):870-874. 10.4111/kju.2012.53.12.870.

Change in Penile Length in Children: Preliminary Study

• Lee JH
• Ji YH
• Lee SK
• Hwang HH
• Ryu DS
• Kim KS
• Choo HS
• Park S
• Moon KH
• Cheon SH
• Park S

• KMID: 1988734
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4111/kju.2012.53.12.870

Abstract

PURPOSE
Studies of penile length in children have been rarely conducted. In Korea, great improvements in height and weight have been observed because of economic development over the past 25 years. We investigated the current status of penile length in Korean children and compared the results with those of a previous Korean study conducted in 1987.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The subjects in this study were 233 boys aged 1 to 158 months, each of whom had been brought to outpatient clinics between April and October 2011. Penile length was measured according to the stretched penile length (SPL) technique; testicular size was measured (in ml) by using orchidometry. A comparison of penile lengths between the current study and the 1987 study was made by using Student's t-test.
RESULTS
SPL increased significantly by 0.7 to 1.1 cm in most age groups (p<0.05). Current anthropometric measures of Korean children such as height, body weight, and testicular size have increased compared with those from 1987.
CONCLUSIONS
Penile length has increased significantly over the last quarter century. Therefore, it is suggested that novel reference values for penile length in prepubertal Korean children be determined in studies with a larger community-based population in order to diagnose and treat size-related penile disorders.

Keyword

Anthropometry; Child; Penis

MeSH Terms

Aged
Ambulatory Care Facilities
Anthropometry
Body Height
Child
Economic Development
Humans
Korea
Male
Penis
Reference Values

Figure

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  FIG. 1 Method used to measure stretched penile length in the current study.

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  FIG. 2 Age-related changes in stretched penile length (SPL) in comparison with data from a previous study conducted in 1987 (modified from Chung KH, et al. Korean J Urol 1987;28:255-8, with permission of The Korean Urological Association) [3]. There were only four patients aged 12 and 13 years in these two studies, respectively. These results need to be validated in additional epidemiologic studies with more children.

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  FIG. 3 Age-related changes in height (A), body weight (B), and testicular sizes (C) in comparison with data from a previous study conducted in 1987 (modified from Chung KH, et al. Korean J Urol 1987;28:255-8, with permission of The Korean Urological Association) [3].

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