Periods at 7? Docs pin spike to lockdown

Periods at 7? Docs pin spike to lockdown

Shobita.Dhar@timesgroup.com

19.03.2021 

Last year’s lockdown proved to be a life-changing experience for sevenyear-old Shanvi* and her parents who live in Delhi. The little girl started undergoing bodily changes associated with puberty, like breast enlargement and sprouting of body hair. Alarmed, Shanvi’s mother consulted a specialist who got a battery of tests and an MRI done. The diagnosis was precocious puberty. In India, a healthy puberty starts between 11 and 12 for girls. But if it hits before the age of 8 in girls and 9 in boys, it’s called precocious puberty (PP).

Paediatricians are reporting an increase in the number of cases of PP in the past year or so. Some of them feel this could be an effect of the lockdown that saw kids holed up in their homes for months, lonely, gaining weight and eating unhealthy food. Dr Vaishakhi Rustagi, paediatric endocrinologist in Delhi who consults at Max hospital, Patparganj, said that between June 2020 and February 2021 she saw 67 cases of PP. “Before Covid, I would see about 25 cases in a year. I think it’s the stress of the pandemic that is causing this rise. Stress causes hormonal imbalance,” she said.

“My daughter is so small, she was confused and disturbed by these changes. She kept asking me why she had body hair when none of her friends did,” said Barkha Verma*, Shanvi’s mother. Barkha took her to a doctor at the right time, before Shanvi started menstruating. Now she’s on medicines that have suppressed her hormones till the time she is older and more mature to handle puberty. But the changes that happened will remain.

Globally, PP is estimated to affect1 in 500 girls and1 in 2,000 boys. In girls, PP is typically idiopathic (with no apparent cause), while in boys PP is often due to the presence of adrenal or pituitary tumours. Prevalence of PP is10 times higher in girls than in boys. All the cases that Rustagi saw since last year were idiopathic.

At Narayana Health City in Bengaluru, Dr Pavithra Nagaraj said she got 12 cases of PP between April last year and now, higher than the five odd cases she got from 2018-2020. “Weight gain is definitely a contributing factor as is hypothyroidism,” she said.

Globally, too, doctors are reporting this trend.

(Names changed on request)

PRECOCIOUS PUBERTY