Changes in bone mineral density and body composition in children with central precocious puberty and early puberty before and after one year of treatment with GnRH agonist.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Much concern has been raised and debated on the effects of obesity and bone mineral density (BMD) after treatment with GnRH agonist. The aim of this study was to assess BMD and body composition, especially percent body fat (%FM) based on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), before and after 1 year of treatment with GnRH agonist in Korean girls.

METHODS

We assessed BMD and body composition in 121 Korean girls with precocious puberty before and after 1 year of treatment with GnRH agonist. BMD and body composition values were measured by using DEXA.

RESULTS

The BMD standard deviation score of each region of interest for chronological age (CA) were higher than zero, but lower than zero for bone age (BA) at baseline and the gap was decreased after 1 year of GnRH agonist treatment. The fat mass (FM) and %FM for both CA and BA were significantly higher than zero at baseline. After GnRH agonist treatment, FM and %FM decreased for CA, but increased for BA.

CONCLUSION

Pituitary-gonadal axis suppression by GnRH agonist does not reverse the progression of bone mass acquisition and does not increase the prevalence of obesity in Korean children with precocious puberty.