Adult Height in Turner Syndrome: Results of a Multinational Survey 1993

Abstract

Under the auspices of ESPE/LWPES, a survey on spontaneous adult height in patients with Turner syndrome was conducted in 12 European countries. A total of 661 patients (45, X = 51%) with a median age of 23.6 years (range: 16-63) who had never received any growth-promoting treatment until the age of 14 had reached a mean height of 144.3 ± 6.7 cm. There was no height difference between those (n = 220) who had received oxandrolone and/or estrogen after the age of 14 years and those (n = 441) who never received any treatment until the age of 20. On average, there was no major gain in height after an age of 16 years. The height achieved was positively associated with the height of normal women in the underlying population. There was a high positive correlation (r = 0.436; p < 0.0001) between adult height and target height in adults never treated. A positive correlation of these parameters was present irrespective of karyotype (45, X vs. ‘others’) or treatment with oxandrolone/estrogen. The findings strengthen the observations on height development from national studies.