As of: February 22, 2024, 9:36 a.m
By: Michelle Brey
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During the pandemic, the number of people experiencing premature puberty rose significantly.
Data suggests this.
But there are initially no answers to some questions.
Frankfurt – Society had to overcome numerous challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic.
These were exceptional years, characterized by constantly changing regulations and consequences.
Young people were often counted as “the biggest losers in this crisis”.
Schools and kindergartens were closed during the lockdowns.
Social interactions were kept to a minimum.
Data now shows that the pandemic also had an impact on puberty.
Premature puberty as an impact of the coronavirus pandemic
Doctors have been reporting on puberty starting earlier and earlier on average for several decades.
The corona pandemic has significantly increased this effect.
“20 to 30 percent more cases of premature puberty were recorded,” said Bettina Gohlke from the Bonn University Children’s Hospital.
The phenomenon was noticed worldwide.
There is corresponding data from Europe, the USA and China.
When asked by
IPPEN.MEDIA,
the expert specified: “There are a total of 47 international studies/investigations published on this topic worldwide, all of which report an increase in the region of 30 percent.” Gohlke also referred to observations at the Bonn University Children’s Hospital: “ Before Corona, we always saw fewer than ten new patients per year at our center in Bonn between 2015 and 2019.
In the first Corona year (2020) there were 23, in the second (2021) 30.” The specialist in pediatric and adolescent medicine referred to a study published in the BMJ Paediatrics Open Journal, for which she herself was the author.
Corona effect on puberty – excess weight as a possible trigger
It was suspected that the pandemic had an impact on puberty, among other things, due to the development of girls.
Because parents were more likely to notice the earlier development.
As schools closed and working from home, they spent more time with their children.
A connection with higher psychosocial stress is also possible, as the pediatric endocrinologist Gohlke explained.
Previous studies have shown that children in such situations mature physically earlier.
There is also a weight effect under discussion:
During the corona pandemic, many young people ate more and exercised noticeably less.
Obesity is considered one of the main factors that lead to earlier onset of puberty.
“But even when weight was taken out, there was still an increase in cases of prepubertas,” says Gohlke.
The pediatric endocrinologist suspects “a multifactorial effect.”
It remains unclear at first whether the effect will disappear once the corona pandemic subsides.
Gohlke added to
IPPEN.MEDIA
that data was already being collected but had not yet been published.
“Our numbers are declining again,” she gave a preliminary insight into the observations.
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Precocious puberty (pubertas praecox)
Precocious puberty is the development of external sexual characteristics before the age of 9 and, in girls, before the age of 8.
Biologically, puberty begins with the increased production of sex hormones, as the Munich endocrinologist Günter Stalla explained.
Puberty has been occurring earlier for decades
Research from a team led by Gohlke shows that the average age at which girls enter puberty has fallen by about three months per decade since the 1970s.
A similar development can also be observed in boys.
Interestingly, the age at which puberty ends has not changed in the last 50 years.
This means that, on average, puberty lasts longer than in the past.
However, the average age at first menstruation has hardly changed.
The coronavirus pandemic is having an effect on children.
© Guido Kirchner/dpa
Stephan Petersenn, an endocrinologist from Hamburg and media spokesman for the German Society for Endocrinology, explains that the start of hormone release and thus the start of puberty is mainly genetically determined.
However, other factors also play a role, such as persistent psychological stress and diet.
The main factor for premature puberty is being overweight
Petersenn explains that an increased proportion of the messenger leptin is produced in fatty tissue, which accelerates this process in the body.
Therefore, an overweight child tends to develop into an adult earlier.
Petersenn points out that the onset of puberty is always related to the standard of living in society.
He believes it is entirely possible that there have been significant fluctuations in the entry age in the past.
What does early puberty mean for a child?
Faster growth:
The growth process is faster in children who go through puberty early.
However, a contrary process undoes this as we get older.
This means that the children affected ultimately remain smaller on average than those who start puberty later.
Sex hormones are responsible for this.
They initially accelerate growth, but also ensure that it ends prematurely by closing the growth plates.
Psychological consequences:
Children would be ashamed, for example, of frustrated growth or hair.
With the onset of puberty, the way one thinks and the way one feels changes, which can lead to problems among friends, explained Petersenn.
“You mature into adult thinking earlier,” says the expert.
Long-term consequences:
These are discussed among experts.
There is, for example, a higher risk of certain diseases.
However, there is still a lack of reliable information on this.
Meanwhile, worrying results have been published.
Many corona patients therefore have brain damage.
(mbr/dpa)
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