Growth Hormone Treatment in Turner's Syndrome: A Real World Experience

OBJECTIVE Short stature is a universal clinical feature of Turner's syndrome (TS). Growth failure begins in fetal life, and adults with TS are on an average 20 cm shorter than the normal female population. Since there is a paucity of data from India regarding the effect of growth hormone (GH) on TS patients, we retrospectively analyzed the data of TS patients who are on GH treatment. METHODS This hospital-based observational retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital of Hyderabad. The data such as height, weight, and bone age of 16 patients who are diagnosed with TS on GH therapy for at least 6 months were included in the study. All the patients were treated with human recombinant GH at the dose of 0.3 mg/kg/week administered as daily subcutaneous injections. RESULTS The mean age at diagnosis was 12.7 years. The mean height at the start of GH therapy was 1.26 m, and mean height standard deviation score (HSDS) was-0.61 when compared to Turner's specific reference data. With a mean duration of GH therapy of 25 months, the mean height at the end of therapy was 1.37 m and the mean height as per HSDS was + 0.37 resulting in a mean height gain of + 0.99 HSDS. CONCLUSION Our observation shows that girls with TS benefit from early diagnosis and initiation of treatment with GH.