[Turner's syndrome: subjects with a normal body mass at birth grow taller than born small for gestational age]

Abstract

Background: Body mass deficit at birth is one of the characteristic features observed in Turner's syndrome (TS). Body mass is lower than expected for gestational age in about 90% of TS-babies, and is below -2 SD (i.e. "small for gestational age") in about 20% of patients.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare the growth courses of TS-girls born with normal and deficient body mass.

Patients: A group of 157 TS-girls, delivered at term (> or =38 weeks of gestation), were studied. Body mass of 80 girls ranged from -0.5 to +0.5 SD and body length was above -2 SD (AGA group); another 54 girls had body mass below -2 SD and body length above -2 SD (disproportional SGA group), and 23 girls had both body mass and length below -2 SD (proportional SGA group).

Methods: Turner's syndrome was confirmed by chromosome analysis. Body mass at birth (BMB) was related to the norms for gestational age (GA) designed by Usher and McLean. Newborns, whose BMB was lower than -2 SD for GA, were considered small for gestational age (SGA). Postnatal body height and mass values were related to Polish norms for females with Turner's syndrome and to the norms for healthy female population.

Results: In the spontaneously growing TS-girls from the AGA group, a total of 275 measurements of body mass and height were carried out, the respective numbers for DSGA and PSGA groups were 176 and 100. Mean differences between the actual and expected body height for the AGA, DSGA and PSGA groups amounted to 0.40+/- 1.02, -0.21+/-0.88 and -0.95+/-0.80 SD TS, respectively, all means differing highly significantly (p<0.001) from each other.

Conclusion: It may be concluded that spontaneously growing girls with Turner's syndrome, who had a normal (for gestational age) body mass at birth, attain a higher stature than girls with body mass deficit.