title: Response to three years of growth hormone therapy in girls with Turner syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Short stature is the most common finding in patients with Turner syndrome. Improving the final adult height in these patients is a challenge both for the patients and physicians. We investigated the clinical response of patients to growth hormone treatment for height improvement over the period of three years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review of medical records from 27 patients with Turner syndrome treated with recombinant human growth hormone for more than 3 years was done. Differences in the changes of height standard deviation scores according to karyotype were measured and factors influencing the height changes were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response to recombinant human growth hormone was an increase in the height of the subjects to a mean value of 1.1 standard deviation for subjects with Turner syndrome at the end of the 3-year treatment. The height increment in the first year was highest. The height standard deviation score in the third year was negatively correlated with the age at the beginning of the recombinant human growth hormone treatment. Different karyotypes in subjects did not seem to affect the height changes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early growth hormone administration in subjects with Turner syndrome is helpful to improve height response to the treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hong Kyu
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hae Sang
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Il Tae
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin Soon
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Hwang
keywords: Growth hormone; Treatment outcome; Turner syndrome