Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The final height of children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) seems to be compromised. That can happen because of the disease itself or because an excessive dose of corticoids used during treatment. This work evaluates the final stature SDS of a group of patients with CAH and correlates it with 17-hydroxyprogesterone levels (17OHP) and corticoid dose at 10 years of age and at puberty onset.

Methods: Selection of children with CAH diagnosed from 1983/08/01 to 1995/08/01, followed in an outpatient clinic of paediatric endocrinology, with all necessary data in their clinical files: height, weight, 17OHP and corticoid dose at 10 years of age, puberty onset and at the last medical evaluation. Data was analysed in SPSS 20.0, with descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon test, Spearman’s correlation coefficient and Mann-Witney U test (significance level: 0.05).

Results: There were 19 children with CAH: 8 boys; 11 girls (13 were diagnosed in the first year of life). The final height SDS was −2.07 (−4.01 to −0.55). It was different from the familiar height SDS: −1.33 (−2.34 to −0.22; P=0.003). At puberty onset, their height SDS was 0.33 (−2.6 to 5.14); at 10 years of age, their height SDS was 0.29 (−1.69 to 3.09). The final height SDS had no statistically significant correlation with 17OHP and corticoid dose used at puberty onset, at 10 years of age or at the last clinical evaluation. The difference between the final height SDS and the pubertal height SDS was positively correlated with corticoid dose used at puberty onset (r=0.466; P=0.044); that difference was negatively correlated with 17OHP at puberty onset (r=−0.643; P=0.004).

Conclusion: In this group of children the final height SDS was inferior to the familiar, because of the poor growth after puberty onset. There wasn’t any correlation with 17OHP and corticoid dose used during treatment.