Table 4.

Cortisol metabolite excretion rate and cortisol metabolite ratios by pubertal stage.

Parameter	Pubertal stagea	Mean girls (95% CI)	Mean boys (95% CI)	Variances	Sex difference	Effect size
					P value	Cohen’s D
Cortisol metabolite excretion rate	A B	0.581 (0.533–0.629) 0.577 (0.522–0.631)	0.571 (0.511–0.631) 0.512 (0.446–0.579)	0.047 0.047	0.777 0.108	0.046 0.300
	C	0.448 (0.407–0.489)	0.487 (0.411–0.563)	0.056	0.400	0.165
5α-reductase activity (allo-THF/F)	A B	8.982 (8.087–9.876) 9.909 (8.832–10.987)	9.405 (8.158–10.653) 8.255 (6.784–9.726)	24.048 21.623	0.576 0.064	0.086 0.356
	C	5.504 (4.724–6.284)	8.558 (7.135–9.981)	19.815	<0.001	0.686
5β-reductase activity (a) (THF/F)	A B	9.164 (8.388–9.939) 11.116 (10.413–11.820)	10.195 (9.014–11.377) 11.367 (9.809–13.223)	20.976 29.161	0.151 0.791	0.225 0.046
	C	9.792 (9.096–10.487)	10.729 (9.453–12.006)	15.494	0.227	0.238
5β-reductase activity (b) (THF/E)	A B	27.101 (25.358–28.845) 31.517 (28.929–34.106)	27.409 (25.140–29.678) 29.465 (25.960–32.969)	70.990 132.215	0.823 0.335	0.037 0.178
	C	26.096 (24.404–27.787)	30.468 (26.861–34.076)	123.162	0.046	0.394
11β-HSD type 2 activity (F/E)	A B	0.896 (0.846–0.946) 0.772 (0.688–0.855)	0.872 (0.799–0.945) 0.915 (0.809–1.022)	0.100 0.106	0.593 0.027	0.076 0.439
	C	1.264 (1.168–1.359)	1.242 (1.102–1.382)	0.217	0.796	0.047
Balance of 11β-HSD activities ((THF + allo-THF)/THE)	A B C	0.613 (0.572–0.655) 0.552 (0.497–0.607) 0.669 (0.631–0.708)	0.623 (0.572–0.675) 0.640 (0.570–0.711) 0.793 (0.716–0.871)	0.035 0.054 0.056	0.741 0.040 0.008	0.053 0.379 0.524
Cytochrome P450 3A4 activity (6β-OH cortisol/F)	A B C	1.893 (1.748–2.038) 1.907 (1.712–2.101) 1.773 (1.606–1.940)	1.955 (1.734–2.176) 1.834 (1.560–2.109) 1.859 (1.598–2.120)	0.630 0.910 0.604	0.645 0.663 0.590	0.078 0.077 0.111

^aA = pre-pubertal (Tanner stage 1); B = early pubertal (Tanner stage 2–3); C = late-pubertal (Tanner stage 4–5).