[Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency: final height in 27 patients with the classical form]

Abstract

Objective: To determine final height (FH) in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) patients and investigate conditions allowing better height outcome.

Methodology: 13 salt-wasting (SW) and 14 simple virilizing (SV) patients were studied. FH and target height (TH) were transformed into standard deviation score (z). Data were analyzed according to sex, clinical form, age at treatment onset and length of treatment before attaining FH.

Results: zFH (n = 27) was -1.57 +/- 1.01. FH (-1.50 +/- 1.03) was below TH (-0.78 +/- 0.84) (n = 25, p < 0.001). FH has not differed according to sex, clinical form and age at therapy onset although there was a trend towards better FH in SW patients and in early treated cases; there was significant difference (p = 0.018) between patients treated for less than 5 years (-2.49 +/- 1.03) and those accompanied longer than 10 years (-1.21 +/- 0.88) before attaining FH.

Conclusions: There was a FH impairment and adult height improvement seems to depend mainly on early diagnosis and treatment.