title: Hot flashes in a young girl: a wake-up call concerning Serenoa repens use in children.
abstract: Extracts of the plant Serenoa repens are widely used in male adults for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Recently, therapy with S repens has been proposed as a "natural" alternative to conventional treatments for male androgenetic alopecia as well as for other hair disorders. Telogen effluvium is a form of alopecia characterized by abnormality of hair cycling, resulting in excessive loss of telogen hair. We report the case of an 11-year-old girl presenting hot flashes that appeared after treatment of telogen effluvium with a food supplement containing S repens that lasted for ~2 months. When use of the product was discontinued, the hot flashes no longer occurred. Four months after the start of S repens intake and 45 days from the cessation of therapy, the girl experienced menarche at the age of 11 years. The Naranjo adverse drug reaction probability scale indicated a probable relationship (score of 6) between the appearance of hot flashes and the intake of S repens. A correlation between exposure to S repens and the onset of menarche is not certain, but it cannot be excluded. Medicinal products or food supplements containing S repens are generally well tolerated in male adults, but we believe that their use in pediatric patients should be better evaluated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miroddi
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carnì
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mannucci
authors.forename: Mariacarla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moleti
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Navarra
authors.forename: Gioacchino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Calapai
mesh_terms: D000505:Alopecia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D019584:Hot Flashes / Q000139:chemically induced*; D006801:Humans; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000009:adverse effects*; D028024:Serenoa / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts