title: Adult height in girls with Turner syndrome treated from before 6 years of age with a fixed per kilogram GH dose.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate adult height (AH) in 25 girls with Turner syndrome (TS) who were treated from before 6 years of age for 10.0 ± 1.7 years with a fixed GH dose of 0.33 mg/kg per week.
  
  
  METHODS
  After a 6-month pretreatment assessment all patients were measured 6-monthly under therapy to assess height SDS (H-SDS) and height velocity (HV) until AH achievement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Following initial acceleration, HV declined after the first 4 years of therapy. At the end of the sixth year of therapy, H-SDS gain was 1.9 ± 1.1. Thereafter, H-SDS gain from baseline decreased, becoming 0.9 ± 0.9 SDS at AH achievement. Bone maturation velocity did not significantly change throughout the prepubertal period. According to Lyon standards for TS, mean AH SDS was significantly higher than pretreatment H-SDS (P<0.0001), with a mean H-SDS change of 0.9 ± 0.9. However, the prevalence of patients with AH <-2 SDS (according to Sempé standards) was close to those recorded at the start of therapy (16/25 vs 18/25). No significant differences in terms of AH were found between patients with either X monosomy or X-chromosomal abnormalities and between girls with either spontaneous or induced puberty.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We infer that the therapeutic regimen adopted in this prospective study is sufficient to induce a significant growth acceleration during the first year, but the response waned after 6 years of treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wasniewska
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aversa
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mazzanti
authors.forename: Maria Pia
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Guarneri
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Matarazzo
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Luca
authors.forename: Fortunato
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lombardo
authors.forename: Maria Francesca
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Messina
authors.forename: Mariella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valenzise
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000187:drug effects; D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height / Q000187:drug effects*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000187:drug effects; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014424:Turner Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D019382:Human Growth Hormone