Spontaneous Growth in Chinese Patients with Turner's Syndrome

Abstract

AIM: To study the spontaneous growth of Chinese girls with Turner's Syndrome (TS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The records of 203 patients with TS and age of diagnosis ranging from 0 to 42 years were reviewed. Only height measurements before treatment were included in the analysis and serial height measurements were available in the younger patients. Only one observation was included per year and per child and a total of 858 observations from the basis of the study. The mean and SD values were separately fitted by a second degree polynomial function giving smoothed growth curves. RESULT: 42.0% of the patients had the XO karyotype. The frequencies of other karyotypes includes 45 XO/46XiXq (16.3%), 46XiXq (8.4%), 45XO/46XY (5.91%), 45XO/46XX (5.94%), other 45XO mosaics (5.45%), 46Xdel(Xq) (2.97%), 45XO/46 XY+marker (2.95%), and others (9.9%) The number of observations ranged from 25 at the age of 2 years to 100 at 20 years of age. The mean heights at 3, 10 and 17 years of age in Chinese TS girls were 85.7±1.8, 122.1±5.9 and 139.1±6 3 cm as compared to 87.6±3.4, 122.5±5.0 and 142.3±6.1 cm in Northern Europe TS girls of similar ages The mean final height of Hong Kong TS girl is 142 cm which is -3.1 SD below the population mean. Subgroup analysis of different karyotypes showed that patients with 46XiXq were significantly shorter whereas patients with 45XO/46XY and 46Xdel (Xq) were significantly taller among this study cohort. Turner patients who were disomic for Xp are significantly taller than patients who were monosomic for Xp. CONCLUSION: Chinese TS girls in Hong Kong achieved a final height between that observed in Swedish (147 cm) and Japan (139 cm). The karyotype can have a significant effect on the growth and stature of children with TS.