The effects of the covid-19 pandemic on puberty: a cross-sectional, multicenter study from Turkey.
Ital J Pediatr
; 48(1): 144, 2022 Aug 13.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1993374
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUNDS During the Coronavirus-19 disease (Covid-19) pandemic it was observed that the number of girls presenting with early puberty had increased. The aim of this study was to carry out a retrospective evaluation of the characteristics of girls who had been referred for evaluation of precocious puberty in five different pediatric endocrinology units, before and during the pandemic. METHODS:
The study participants comprised 359 girls who were assigned into 2 groups a pre-pandemic group (n214) and a pandemic group (n145). Those participants (n99) who had medical records in the follow-up period were classified into 3 subgroups according to the time of presentation and follow-up visits (group-1 first admission and follow-up visit before the pandemic, group-2 first admission before the pandemic, the follow-up visit during the pandemic, group-3 first admission and follow-up visit during the pandemic).RESULTS:
The age at presentation and age at pubertal onset were both significantly lower in the pandemic group than those in the pre-pandemic group(8.1 vs 8.6, p < 0.001,7.7 vs 7.9,p0.013, respectively). There was no significant difference between the body mass index standard deviation scores (BMI-SDS) values of the groups (0.57 vs 0.51, p0.430). The initiation rate of pubertal suppression therapy at the time of presentation was significantly higher in the pandemic group compared to that of the pre-pandemic group (7.7%vs 27.5%), and in groups-2 & 3 compared to group-1, during follow-up (20%&44%vs 8%).CONCLUSION:
Our research showed that the onset of puberty occurred earlier in the pandemic period compared to the previous year, and the need for pubertal suppression therapy increased during the pandemic.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Puberty, Precocious
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Ital J Pediatr
Journal subject:
Pediatrics
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S13052-022-01337-z
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