Doctors, parents and studies around the world are reporting a rise in precocious puberty cases.
Before the pandemic, Vaishakhi Rustagi, a Delhi-based pediatric endocrinologist, found that cases of early puberty were pretty uncommon, but not unheard of: In a typical year, she would see about 20 such patients.
Then the pandemic hit, and the cases started to pile up. Since June 2020, Rustagi has seen more than 300 girls experiencing early puberty, she said.
The phenomenon of increased cases during the pandemic hasn’t been restricted to India — pediatricians across the world, from Italy to Turkey to the United States — have reported increases in precocious puberty cases. Parents have, too.
Pediatricians in the United States and India are also reporting cases of early sexual maturation, with girls as young as 5 developing breasts and those younger than 8 starting menstruation in some reported cases.
Source: Early puberty cases in girls are surging in pandemic, doctors say – The Washington Post