Are Elevated DHEA-s Levels In A Child A Cause For Concern?

Question: My 7 year old daughter has a DHEA-s level of 175, the next time we tested it was 142. She is slightly anemic, she has had 4 skin infections in a year, and she is getting acne. We have tested 3 other hormones, I know one was testosterone and all came back normal. She had a bone age test and it was normal. No physical signs of puberty. Our doctor is dismissing us saying it is an isolated incident. He continues to tell me to get her to lose weight (she is only slightly overweight). My fear is that we have not eliminated things like an adrenal tumor, pituitary tumor or cushings syndrome. Our doctor says he has spoken with an endocrinologist and she agrees with him. In all my reading and research I have not found anything that says high DHEA-s can be an isolated incident in a child. To me, it says something is going on with my daughter's body. I would like to know what your opinion is?
Thank you, XXXXXXX

Good Morning Dr. XXXXXXX
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. We are going to have a consult with a pediatric endocrinologist over the phone, unfortunately our specialists are a 2 hour drive away. Thank you for the information on the adrenal tumors, I have mentioned my concern several times and nobody has bothered to tell me that the DHEA-s should be that high to indicate a tumor. My daughter is 82 lbs and 56". I know this puts her somewhere in the 90th percentile for the growth chart and ideal weight is supposed to be somewhere around 85th percentile. But when you look at my daughter, so does not look very overweight, all she has is a little bit of a belly, her arms and legs are fairly normal. Her exact age is 7 and 10 months (to the day yesterday). Here is what I don't understand. My daughter had the acne and she also has mood swings. Why don't I see this in other 7 and 8 year olds? There are many other kids at her school that are way more overweight that she is and I see no other kids that are dealing with acne. Trust me, I have looked. She is not that overweight, why is she dealing with this when nobody else is? That is what I really don't understand. One other thing to mention is that I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I wanted the doctor to test her and see if there is anything going in that direction but the testosterone came back normal. I have read with the premature adrenarche, those girls are more at risk to become polycystic. If there is anything going on in the Polycystic direction then she may have a harder time losing the weight or her additional weight could be part of the syndrome. I have struggled with the weight issue with Polycystic and I know for a fact that it is much easier to gain weight and much more difficult to lose weight with this syndrome. What are your thoughts?
Thank you, XXXXXXX

Hi Dr. XXXXXXX

I made a mistake with her height. It is actually 53"

Thank you, XXXXXXX


Hi Dr. XXXXXXX

Another correction. I just spoke to the Endocrinologist and she said the Bone Age test was NOT normal. She said XXXXXXX has 10 year old bones in some areas and 9 year old bones in other areas.

Thank you, XXXXXXX

Thank you for the information Dr. XXXXXXX We are actually going to see the endocrinologist next Wednesday, luckily she will be in a hospital near us that day and could see us. I will mention the testing you mentioned above, thank you for that. I will let you know what the Endocrinologist says. Any other advice for us when we go see the Endocrinologist?

She did have some simple thyroid blood tests, the THS and the T4, those came back normal. No breast development.

Thank you, XXXXXXX XXXXXXX

Hi Dr. XXXXXXX

Thank you for all your assistance. I will definitely let you know how things turn out. I'll follow up with you after Wed. the 24th.

Best Regards, XXXXXXX XXXXXXX