Influence of GnRH analog therapy on body mass in central precocious puberty.

THE AIM OF THE STUDY: Was to evaluate the body mass index (BMI) changes in girls with central precocious puberty (CPP) treated with a GnRH analog (GnRHa) and to analyse the factors affecting BMI.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: 43 girls with puberty onset aged (mean, +/-SD) 6.1+/-1.9, treated with 3.75 mg Decapeptyl Depot i.m. every 28 days. The treatment was initiated at the age of 7.5+/-2.1 year and continued for 3.3+/-2.2 year until the age of 11.4+/-0.9 year. The height, weight and BMI data were evaluated before, during and after GnRH agonist administration. Using recommended Polish BMI cut-off values we defined overweight in children of 90th and 97th centiles and obesity above 97th centile.

RESULTS: There was no statistical difference between BMI SD score before initiation of therapy and at the end of therapy (p=0.49). 9.8% of the cohort were overweight and 22.0% were obese before treatment. At the end of the therapy 18.6% children were overweight and 14.0% obese. These differences were not statistically significant. There was no significant correlation between overweight and obesity at the end of treatment and the duration of the therapy (r=-0.17) and with the duration of CPP before introduction of GnRH therapy (r= -0.11).

CONCLUSIONS: 1.Overweight and obesity are not related to long term pituitary-gonadal suppression due to GnRH analogue treatment. 2. The rate of overweight and obesity among children with CPP is higher than in the general population. Thus detailed evaluation of metabolic status of overweight children with CPP should be performed in order to prevent complications of the metabolic syndrome.