STANDARDS FOR OVARIAN VOLUME IN CHILDHOOD AND PUBERTY

Objective: To examine the growth of the ovary and the prevalence of po lycystic ovaries in childhood and to compare the ovarian volumes of gi rls with growth disorders. Design: A retrospective study of ovarian vo lume measurements made with ultrasound. Setting: Paediatric Endocrine Outpatient service at The Middlesex Hospital. Patients: The control gr oup consisted of girls with no endocrine defect. The study group consi sted of girls with GH insufficiency, treated and untreated; skeletal d ysplasia (and no endocrine defect) on a trial of recombinant human GH; and tall stature. Methods: The prevalence of polycystic appearance ov aries in the control group was noted. Centiles were calculated for the volumes of normal appearance ovaries in the control group (428 scans from 358 girls). Standard deviation scores were calculated for the ova rian volumes in the study groups. Results: There was continuous growth of the ovaries throughout childhood. There was an increase in the pre valence of polycystic ovaries from 6% at 6 years of age, until 26% of the scans showed polycystic ovaries at 15 years of age. The ovarian vo lume SD score of untreated GH insufficient girls was less than control s but did not achieve statistical significance. It was significantly l ess than that of GH-insufficient girls on GH, girls with skeletal dysp lasia on GH, and girls with tall stature. Tall girls had significantly greater ovarian volume than either of the GH-treated groups. Conclusi ons: Growth hormone appears to influence ovarian growth. Most women wh o have polycystic ovarian appearance develop this appearance during ch ildhood and puberty.