Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Seasonal Variations in Childhood and Adolescent Growth: Experience of Pediatric Endocrine Clinics.

Background: Children experience seasonal variations in growth whereby height increases most in spring and least in autumn, and weight increases least in spring and most in autumn. We hypothesized that activity restriction caused by efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) would result in increased body mass index (BMI) in children, differing from conventional seasonal growth variations.

Methods: We included 169 children who visited endocrine clinics of three hospitals in Korea at regular intervals under the same conditions for two years.