Spontaneous Growth in Turner's Syndrome

Growth in Turner's syndrome can be divided into four phases: intrauterine growth is slightly retarded, normal growth occurs up to a bone age of about 3 years, with a tendency to compensate for the loss in growth during intrauterine life, stunting of growth is severe during childhood, after a bone age of about 10 years - the time when puberty normally starts - the growth phase is prolonged, but total height gain is not essentially reduced. Based on a study of 150 patients with Turner's syndrome whose spontaneous growth was observed, standards of height and height velocity (means and SDs) were calculated to allow mathematical analysis of the spontaneous growth and growth during treatment in these patients. The auxological characteristics in Turner's syndrome do not support the assumption that GH deficiency plays a primary role in the pathogenesis of the growth disorder.