Idiopathic precocious puberty versus puberty in adopted children; auxological response to gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist treatment and final height

Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Emma Children's Hospital, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of puberty and response to gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist treatment in adopted children compared with children with idiopathic precocious puberty (IPP). METHODS: We studied 17 girls with central IPP (group A) and 11 girls adopted from Asia and Central and South America (group B) with respect to auxological data at presentation of puberty and response to GnRH agonist treatment. RESULTS: In adopted girls, age at onset of puberty was later and duration of treatment was shorter. At the start of treatment, height-standard deviation score (H-SDS) was +1.67 s.d. in group A. In group B, H-SDS was comparably increased (+0.04 s.d.) assuming that the mean H-SDS in their native country is lower than the mean on the Dutch curve. During treatment, H-SDS decreased in both groups. Group A reached a final height (FH) of 166.2 cm (-0.3 s.d.) and group B of 156.1 cm (-1.9 s.d.). Predicted adult height (PAH) at the start of treatment underestimated FH in group A and overestimated FH in group B. At the end of treatment, PAH overestimated FH in both groups. The SDS for weight was above the mean in both groups at the start of treatment and increased even more during treatment. The age of occurrence of menses after treatment was stopped was the same in both groups (12.7 and 12.8 Years respectively). CONCLUSION: Despite the difference in timing of puberty between girls with IPP and adopted girls with early puberty, their response to treatment was similar in many aspects.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. Teilmann, M. Boas, J. H. Petersen, K. M. Main, M. Gormsen, K. Damgaard, V. Brocks, N. E. Skakkebaek, and T. K. Jensen Early Pituitary-Gonadal Activation before Clinical Signs of Puberty in 5- to 8-Year-Old Adopted Girls: A Study of 99 Foreign Adopted Girls and 93 Controls J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., July 1, 2007; 92(7): 2538 - 2544. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]