FINAL HEIGHT AFTER LONG-TERM GROWTH-HORMONE TREATMENT IN TURNER SYNDROME

Objectives: To study final height after long-term growth hormone (GH) treatment in girls with Turner syndrome (TS). Patients: One hundred fi fty three patients with TS, participating in five European trials, wer e included. They started GH treatment in 1987-1989 at an age of 10 yea rs or older. Mean age at start of treatment ranged between 11.7 and 14 .6 years among countries and mean bone age between 9.4 and 11.8 years. Fourteen girls were lost to follow-up, leaving 139 for analysis. Most girls have now attained final height (FH), defined as a linear growth velocity (GV) of 4 mm/yr or less, measured over at least 6 months (gr oup 1, n = 56), or near-FH, defined as a GV of 5 to 9 mm/yr (group 2, n = 22). Sixty-one girls were still growing 10 mm/yr or more. Methods and main results: At the last measurement, mean (SD) height was 150.7 (4.9) cm in group 1 and 148.5 (5.1) cm in group 2. The differences bet ween FH and projected final height based on extrapolation of the initi al height-standard deviation score on Turner syndrome reference values , were 2.9 (3.8) and 3.0 (3.3) cm, respectively. The mean gain over th e Bayley-Pinneau prediction of FH was 3.3 (3.9) cm in both groups. No significant differences between countries were found. The range of gai ns over projected height (-4.7 to 12.1 cm) was large, and 25% of gains were 5 cm or more. Gain over initial projection was strongly related to initial growth delay and to growth response during the first 2 year s of treatment. A logistic regression model is presented that predicts gain of more than 5 cm with a positive predictive value of 62% and a negative predictive value of 84%. Conclusions: Long-term GH treatment in girls with TS, starting treatment at a relatively advanced age (>10 years) resulted in a modest mean gain in FH of 3 cm, with wide interi ndividual variation.