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Increased frequency of idiopathic central precocious puberty in girls during the COVID-19 pandemic: preliminary results of a tertiary center study

  • Sezer Acar EMAIL logo and Behzat Özkan
Published/Copyright: December 8, 2021

Abstract

Objectives

Recent studies have demonstrated an increase in the frequency of idiopathic central precocious puberty (CPP) during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (COVID-19) pandemic. We compared the demographic, anthropometric, and clinical characteristics of idiopathic CPP patients diagnosed during a one-year period of the COVID-19 pandemic with the characteristics of patients diagnosed during the same period in the previous three-years.

Methods

Demographic, clinical, anthropometric, and laboratory data of all patients diagnosed in our Pediatric Endocrinology clinic with idiopathic CPP during a one-year period of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020–March 2021) and a three-year period before the pandemic (April 2017–March 2020) were evaluated retrospectively.

Results

A total of 124 patients (124 girls, zero boys) diagnosed with idiopathic CPP were included in this study. Sixty-six patients in the three-year period before the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2017–March 2020) and 58 patients (46.8%) in the one-year period during the COVID-19 pandemic period (April 2020–March 2021) were diagnosed with idiopathic CPP.

Conclusions

This study’s findings suggest that the number of girls diagnosed with idiopathic CPP during the one-year study period during the pandemic was more than double that of any of the previous three-years.


Corresponding author: Sezer Acar, MD, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Dr. Behçet Uz Children’s Education and Research Hospital, İsmet Kaptan Mh, Sezer Doğan Sokağı No: 11, Konak, 35210, Izmir, Turkey, Phone: +90 0232 411 60 00 × 6318, Fax: +90 0232 489 23 15, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the children and their parents who participated in this study.

  1. Research funding: None declared.

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: The current study was approved by the local ethics committee in light of the Helsinki Declaration.

References

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Received: 2021-08-31
Accepted: 2021-11-22
Published Online: 2021-12-08
Published in Print: 2022-02-23

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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