2023-09-06 13:39:27
The Irccs G. Gaslini of Genoa published a study in the August ‘Journal of the Endocrine Society’ which examines the data of 133 girls suspected of being in precocious puberty from January 2016 to June 2021. “The analysis – he explains Mohamad Maghnie, director of the UOC Pediatric Clinic and Endocrinology of the institute and scientific manager of the work – focused in particular on lifestyle changes during the lockdown periods, revealing that a slow increase in cases of puberty has been observed in recent years precocious, particularly in girls, with an extreme ‘surge’ in the last 2 years between Covid-19, the pandemic and the lockdown. This phenomenon has been reported by many centers in different countries”.
Precocious puberty (Pp) – recalls a note from the Ligurian children’s hospital – consists in the appearance of signs of pubertal development before the age of 8 for females and 9 years for males. In addition to psychological and relational discomfort in the child, it can contribute to increasing the risk over the years of developing diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of tumors of the reproductive system. Before the pandemic, precocious puberty affected just one in 10,000 children. Precocious puberty is 10 times more common in girls than in boys, although the reasons for this gender difference are still mysterious. The aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence of idiopathic central precocious puberty (Icpp) in females during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy compared to the incidence of Pp evaluated in the previous 4 years. The possible relationship between the increase in the incidence of PP and the change in lifestyle linked to the pandemic was also investigated.
“During the pandemic – reports Daniela Fava of the Pediatric Clinic and Endocrinology, first signatory of the article with Carlotta Pepino, specializing in Pediatrics at the University of Genoa – the number of girls we evaluated for suspected precocious puberty increased by almost 80 % compared to the previous 4 years, and the proportion of girls diagnosed with rapidly progressive precocious puberty (Rp-Icpp) was 30% higher during the pandemic period.Before the pandemic, only 41% of girls referred at our institute for suspected precocious puberty it had a rapidly progressive form, but during the pandemic the percentage rose to 53.5%”.
Among the possible triggers of this phenomenon – highlights the study – a higher Bmi (body mass index) was found in girls diagnosed with rapidly progressive precocious puberty during the pandemic, although not statistically significant. These data are in line with the weight gain trend recorded in recent years in children. Rapid increase in body weight is associated with advancing pubertal development and an increase in body fat mass, particularly visceral fat, appears to play an important role in this respect. The changes in daily habits during the pandemic, therefore, according to the authors could have changed body composition in terms of fat distribution, even without causing a significant increase in BMI: among the patients seen during the first 15 months of the pandemic, almost 90% had stopped all physical activity.
“We have also observed – underlines Maghnie – a prolonged use of electronic devices, which may have influenced pubertal development times through direct and indirect factors. Girls diagnosed with precocious puberty during the pandemic period showed an average of 2 hours per day in more, compared to the previous period, spent using electronic devices, and 88.5% of these stopped the programmed physical activity they carried out before the pandemic. No girl had had Covid-19 before the diagnosis of Rp-Icpp “.
“The sharp spike in new diagnoses of rapidly progressive idiopathic precocious puberty coinciding with the pandemic is an important phenomenon – comments the head physician – Children have become less physically active and rates of overweight and obesity, as well as stress, have increased during the The focus on this still largely mysterious phenomenon is also linked to research that has linked precocious puberty with a possible increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases, depression and other mental health problems in later life. Early age of menarche is an established risk factor for breast cancer and other estrogen-dependent cancers.”
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