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Adult Height in Precocious Puberty after Long-Term Treatment with Deslorelin

Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and Diagnostic Radiology, Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center Bethesda, Maryland
Radiology Department, Georgetown Medical Center Washington, D.C.

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Karen Oerter, Building 10, Room 10N262, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.

Precocious puberty often leads to short adult height. Since the introduction of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist treatment for LHRH-dependent precocious puberty in 1979, several reports have shown increased predicted height among LHRH agonist-treated children. To determine whether the LHRH agonist deslorelin can normalize the adult height of children with precocious puberty, we are conducting a long-term pilot study involving 161 children. This report describes the first 44 children to have attained final or proximate adult height. These children were 7.1 ± 1.2 (mean ± SD) yr old (bone age 11.8 ± 1.5 yr) and had been in puberty for 3.1 ± 0.3 yr at the start of treatment. They were treated with deslorelin (4 µg/kg/day sc) for 4.1 ± 1.3 yr and had been withdrawn from treatment for an average of 2.4 yr at the time of this study (age 13.6 ± 0.9 yr). Fourteen of the 44 children, who had grown less than 0.5 cm during the previous year, were considered to have attained adult height. The other 30 children had achieved 98.6% of predicted mature height (Bayley-Pinneau method) and were considered to be at proximate adult height. The final or proximate adult height of these 44 children averaged –1.1 SD compared to the adult height of the normal population. This height was significantly greater than the pretreatment height (–1.1 vs. –2.0 SD, P < 0.01), but significantly less than both the predicted height at the end of treatment (–1.1 vs. –0.5 SD, P < 0.01) and the target height derived from the mean height of the parents adjusted for the sex of the child (–1.1 vs. 0.1 SD, P < 0.01).

The observation that the Bayley-Pinneau height prediction at the end of treatment overestimated the actual adult height emphasizes the importance of using final height data to assess the ultimate impact of LHRH agonist treatment. It also indicates the need for caution when predicting the adult height of children who are still receiving treatment. We conclude that deslorelin has improved the adult height of these patients but has not fully restored height to the patients' genetic potential. We hypothesize that further improvement will be seen in patients who are treated with less delay and at a younger bone age.

Received February 8, 1991.

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