Dear sir,
I read with interest the study by Roy et al.[1] published in July–August 2019 issue of the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism. The authors established normative data for stretched penile length (SPL) in neonate and children aged 1–13 years from West Bengal, India. I assume that the utility of the constructed data in the clinical fields and researches institutions ought to be cautiously considered. The authors addressed one limitation in terms of the cross-sectional nature of the study. I presume that the following methodological limitation might be additionally relevant. Interestingly, various studies obviously pointed out to the ethnic diversity of penile dimensions.[2,3,4] India, to my knowledge, is a multiethnic country. The authors regrettably did not state the ethnic backgrounds of the studied cohort. Despite the study limitations, the constructed reference values of SPL help assess puberty in boys and prevent misdiagnosis of micropenis and related genital disorders.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
REFERENCES
- 1.Roy A, Bhattacharjee R, Chakraborty PP, Goswami S, Biswas K, Mukhopadhyay P, et al. A cross-sectional study of stretched penile length in boys from West Bengal, India. Indian J Endocr Metab. 2019;23:412–5. doi: 10.4103/ijem.IJEM_51_19. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Phillip M, De Boer C, Pilpel D, Karplus M, Sofer S. Clitoral and penile sizes of full term newborns in two different ethnic groups. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. 1996;9:175–9. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Cheng PK, Chanoine JP. Should the definition of micropenis vary according to ethnicity? Horm Res. 2001;55:278–81. doi: 10.1159/000050013. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4.Chen XB, Li RX, Yang HN, Dai JC. A comprehensive, prospective study of penile dimensions in Chinese men of multiple ethnicities. Int J Impot Res. 2014;26:172–6. doi: 10.1038/ijir.2014.9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]