Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Faculty of Health Science, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Int J Clin Pract. 2022 Jul 20;2022:9142433. doi: 10.1155/2022/9142433. eCollection 2022.
Inducing puberty in hypogonadal patients enables achieving normal final adult height and healthy bone mass accrual and improves fertility potential. Reliable availability and access to medicines remain a challenge around the world, particularly in low-income countries.
We aimed to describe the availability/access to medications used for inducing and maintaining puberty in centers within the Arab region.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a link to an online questionnaire, which was emailed to paediatric endocrinologists in the Arab region. The questionnaire consisted of three questions related to the availability of various forms of sex hormones.
99 physicians from 16 countries participated in the study. The commonest available form of estrogen was conjugated estrogen (29% of centers), followed by ethinylestradiol (26%). Depot estradiol was available in 11 centers, while topical estrogen preparations of gel and patches were available in 6 and 10 centers, respectively. Medroxy progesterone was available in 26% of the centers, followed by norethisterone (24%). The combined forms of oral and transdermal patches of estrogen/progesterone were available in 35% and 9% of centers, respectively. Intramuscular testosterone (Sustanon) was the most commonly available preparation of testosterone, followed by the depot injection (Nebido), oral testosterone, and testosterone gel and cream.
We report the first available data on medications used for puberty induction and maintenance in paediatric hypogonadism in the Arab region. Recommended preparations for this purpose are not widely available. Creating an essential list of medications used in paediatric endocrinology disorders might improve availability, access, and consequently practice.
在性腺功能减退症患者中诱导青春期有助于实现正常的最终成人身高和健康的骨量积累，并提高生育潜力。可靠的药物供应和可及性仍然是一个全球性的挑战，尤其是在低收入国家。
我们旨在描述阿拉伯地区中心用于诱导和维持青春期的药物的供应/可及性。
使用在线问卷的链接进行了一项横断面调查，并将该问卷通过电子邮件发送给阿拉伯地区的儿科内分泌医生。问卷包括三个与各种形式的性激素供应相关的问题。
来自 16 个国家的 99 名医生参与了这项研究。最常见的雌激素制剂是结合雌激素（29%的中心），其次是乙炔雌二醇（26%）。11 个中心可获得雌二醇贮存剂，而 6 个和 10 个中心分别可获得局部用雌激素凝胶和贴剂。26%的中心可获得甲羟孕酮，其次是去氧孕烯（24%）。口服和经皮贴剂联合雌激素/孕激素制剂在 35%和 9%的中心可用。最常用的睾酮制剂是肌肉注射的睾酮（Sustanon），其次是贮存型注射剂（Nebido）、口服睾酮和睾酮凝胶和乳膏。
我们报告了阿拉伯地区儿科性腺功能减退症中用于诱导和维持青春期的药物的首次可用数据。为此推荐的制剂并不广泛可用。制定儿科内分泌疾病中使用的基本药物清单可能会改善供应、可及性，并最终改善实践。
