Status of Central Precocious Puberty Cases at the Onset of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: A Single-Center Experience

Objective: The onset of puberty in children is occurring at an increasingly earlier ages. During the coronavirus 2019 pandemic, children experienced epidemic-related changes such as stress, sedentary lifestyle, and weight gain. Materials and Methods: Auxological, clinical, endocrinological, and radiological data in the files of 57 patients who were given gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog therapy with the diagnosis of central precocious puberty between April 1 and July 1, 2019 (group 1) and April 1 and July 1, 2020 (group 2) were analyzed retrospectively. Results: A total of 27 patients (26 girls, 1 boy) in group 1 and 30 patients (28 girls, 2 boys) in group 2 were diagnosed with central precocious puberty. Mean ages at diagnosis for groups 1 and 2 were 28.54 +/- 0.94 and 7.92 +/- 0.96 years, respectively (P =.018). Mean bone age at diagnosis for group 1 was 9.78 +/- 1.48 (6.8-12), and for group 2 it was 8.78 +/- 1.11 (6.5-12) years (P =.013). The mean age of starting treatment in groups 1 and 2 was 8.94 +/- 0.17 (6.8-9.8) and 8.07 +/- 0.02 (5.8-10) years, respectively (P =.002). Average birth weights for groups 1 and 2 were 950 +/- 1100 (2300-3400) and 3180 +/- 717 (870-3820) g, respectively (P =.012). Treatment was started when breast stage was T3 in 57.69% of group 1 and T2 in 75% of group 2, and a statistical difference was found between them (P =.006) and uterine length was higher in group 2 (P =.144). Conclusion: During the coronavirus 2019 pandemic, patients who start central precocious puberty therapy were of younger age. In our single-center experience, coronavirus 2019 was not seen to have a significant impact on central precocious puberty.

Automated summary

This study found that during the coronavirus pandemic, children diagnosed with central precocious puberty were at a younger age. The impact of coronavirus 2019 on central precocious puberty was not significant.