AUTHOR=Leite Ana Luísa , Galo Elisa , Antunes Ana , Robalo Brígida , Amaral Daniela , Espada Filipa , Castro Sofia , Simões Dias Sara , Limbert Catarina 

TITLE=Do GnRH Agonists Really Increase Body Weight Gain? Evaluation of a Multicentric Portuguese Cohort of Patients With Central Precocious Puberty

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2022.816635

DOI=10.3389/fped.2022.816635

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=Introduction: There are several concerns associated with gonadotropin-releasing hor-mone agonist (GnRHa) treatment for central precocious puberty (CPP), such as obesity and changes in body mass index (BMI). We aimed to investigate whether any anthro-pometric differences exist and if they persist over time. 

Methods: We conducted an observational study of Portuguese children (both sexes) diagnosed with CPP between January 2000 and December 2017, using a digital plat-form, in order to analyse the influence of GnRHa treatment on BMI-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS).

 Results: Of the 241 patients diagnosed with CPP, we assessed 92 patients (8% boys) in this study. At baseline, 39% of the patients were overweight. BMI-SDS increased with treatment for girls, but then diminished one year after stopping GnRHa therapy (p=0.018). 
BMI-SDS variation at the end of treatment was negatively correlated with BMI-SDS at baseline (p<0.001). Boys grew taller and faster during treatment compared to girls (p<0.001) and therefore their BMI-SDS trajectory might be different.
 
Conclusions: This study showed an increase of body weight gain during GnRHa treat-ment only in girls, which reversed just one year after stopping treatment. The overall gain in BMI-SDS with treatment is associated with baseline BMI-SDS.