ESPE Abstracts

Recent evidence suggests increase of Precocious Puberty (PP) after the Covid-19 pandemic; however, there are no data from Greece in the literature. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was an increase in the incidence of PP, during the pandemic period, in Northwest Greece (Ioannina) and Crete (Heraklion). A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data was performed, in pediatric patients assessed in Pediatric Endocrinology outpatient clinics in Ioannina and Heraklion. Group A consists of patients examined before the onset of Covid (till March 2020) and in group B recorded patient’s data from visits between April 2020-October 2022. In the cohort entered girls <8 years and boys <9 years old. In both groups a detailed medical history, a complete clinical examination including Tanner stage, BMI, LHRH test and bone age were recorded. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using SPSS statistical package. The independence sample t -test was used due to normal distribution of data. In Ioannina, 4,157 patients were studied. 2,621 (63.1%) were girls and 1,536 (36.9%) were boys. 3,360 (80.8%) belonged to Group A and the remaining 797 (19.2%) to Group B. Overall, 231 children (5.6%) showed PP. Of these, 154 (4.6%) belonged to Group A and 77 (9.7%) to Group B. The difference in the percentage was statistically significant (P=0.001). Analysis by gender showed that the frequency of early puberty was statistically significant for girls (P=0.001), while for boys there was an increase in frequency that was not statistically significant. Regarding BMI, in Ioannina there was a significant increase in boys in group B (P=0.026) but not in girls. In Heraklion, the medical records of 6,350 patients were studied. 3,737 (62%) were girls and 2,413 (38%) were boys. The majority, 4,454 (70.1%), belonged to Group A, and the remaining 1,896 (29.9%) to Group B. Overall, 134 children (2.1%) showed PP. Of these, 64 (1.4%) belonged to Group A and 70 (3.7%) to Group B. The difference in the percentage was statistically significant (P=0.001). The analysis based on gender showed that the frequency of PP was statistically significant for girls (P=0.001), while for boys there was an increase in frequency that was not statistically significant. Regarding BMI in Heraklion there was no significant difference between the two groups. In conclusion this study show that the frequency of PP has been significantly increased by the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in girls.