Growth hormone treatment beneficial to girls with Turner syndrome, growth hormone deficiency

Growth hormone therapy appears to boost height and growth rate in girls with Turner Syndrome (TS) or growth hormone deficiency (GHD), with pronounced effect seen in the first year of treatment, according to a case-control study.

The study included 20 girls (median age 6.8 years), of which 10 had Turner Syndrome (four with full complete monosomy of X chromosome; six with partial monosomy [mosaic] of X chromosome) and 10 had isolated idiopathic GHD. These participants received growth hormone therapy for at least 36 months, with an initial dosage of 33.08 μg/kg/day in the Turner Syndrome group and 32.17 μg/kg/day in the GHD group.

Researchers looked at the growth parameters, glycaemic profile, and IGF-1 levels of the participants every 6 months.

Both the Turner Syndrome and GHD groups demonstrated a significant increase in height, weight, and growth rate after 3 years of treatment (p≤0.01), with pronounced improvements occurring as early as 6 months (p≤0.016).

Height continued to improve through 24 months of treatment for participants in both groups, with a significant increase noted at 12 vs 6 months (p≤0.008) and at 24 vs 12 months of treatment (p≤0.031). On the other hand, only the GDH group showed a significant increase in height at 36 vs 30 months of treatment (p=0.035).

Compared with the GHD group, the Turner Syndrome group had a lower height and a lower height increase throughout the study. However, these differences were significant only after 6 and 12 months of treatment (6 months: 0.42 vs 0.74; p=0.045; 12 months: 0.59 vs 0.93; p=0.034).

Treatment was well tolerated. Autoimmune thyroiditis was the most common adverse event, occurring in two girls with Turnor Syndrome. One girl with Turner Syndrome and one girl with GHD had transient hypertransaminasemia and hypercholesterolemia, respectively. None of the participants experienced hyperglycaemia.