M. Salerno et al., FINAL HEIGHT IN A GROUP OF UNTREATED CHIL DREN WITH CONSTITUTIONAL DELAY OF GROWTH AND PUBERTY, Archives de pediatrie, 3(9), 1996, pp. 866-869
Background. - Constitutional delay of growth and puberty (CDGP) is a f
requent cause of short stature in childhood Controversial results have
been reported on the full achievement of these patients of their targ
e height. Patients and methods. - The final adult height of 20 patient
s with CDGP (11 male and 9 female), who did not received hormonal trea
tment, was compared with their target height and with the predicted ad
ult height, by the Bayley-Pinneau method obtained before the onset of
puberty. Results. - A spontaneous improvement of the stature from pre-
puberty to adulthood was observed in all patients (from -2.9 +/- 0.7 S
DS to -1.3 +/- 0.6 SDS in male and from -2.6 +/- 0.6 SDS to -0.9 +/- 0
.3 SDS in female; P < 0.001). Adult height in male (166.4 +/- 4.1 cm)
at the mean age of 21 years was very close to the target height (165.7
+/- 3.9 cm) and to the predicted adult height (167.3 +/- 3.1 cm). Als
o in female, final height (156.6 +/- 2.0 cm) did not differ from targe
t height (153.3 +/- 4.2 cm) and from predicted adult height (155.6 +/-
2.3 cm). Conclusions. - In our experience, patients with CDGP reach t
heir predicted adult height and achieve their genetic potential withou
t medical treatment.