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Original Studies |
Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and INSERM U-342 (J.-C.C., L.M., C.G., J.-L.C.), Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, Paris; and Laboratoire Sanofi-Winthrop (C.G., J.-P.D.), Paris, France
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Jean-Claude Carel, INSERM U-342, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, 82 avenue Denfert Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France. E-mail: carel{at}cochin.inserm.fr
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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In most reported studies, using fixed doses of 0.71 U/kg·BW (3), GV declined after 12 yr of GH treatment, limiting the ability to continuously increase the height SD score over the years. We report the result of a study aimed at improving catch-up growth by adapting the GH dose during the first 4 yr of treatment. The initial GH dose (0.7 U/kg·BW) was increased by 0.7 U/kg·BW, up to a maximum of 2.1 U/kg·BW, when GV declined to less than 200% of the pretreatment level. This group was compared to conventionally treated patients who received a fixed GH dose of 0.9 U/kg·BW.
| Subjects and Methods |
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Decision to initiate sex steroid supplementation was made on an individual basis, weighing the desire for normal pubertal development and the risk of premature epiphyseal closure. In the adapted dose group, sex steroids were not initiated during the 4-yr protocol. Low doses of steroids were used in both groups, and none of the patients received oxandrolone.
SD scores of height were calculated using standards from the general population (7) and data collected by Lyon et al. (21) in untreated patients with TS. The validity of the method of Lyon (21) to accurately predict FH in French patients with TS has been validated in an independent set of patients (6). SD scores of GV were calculated using French TS standards (6). Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) (24) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c; HPLC, normal values, 4.7 ± 0.7%) were measured every 3 months.
Statistical analysis was performed with StatView-4 software (Abacus Concepts, Berkeley, CA). Data are presented as the mean ± SD. Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests were used for intergroup (unpaired) or intragroup (paired) comparisons.
| Results |
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The two groups of patients had similar initial characteristics
(Table 1
). Initiation of GH treatment at
a dose of 0.70.9 U/kg·BW induced an acceleration of GV from
3.7 ± 0.8 to 7.2 ± 1.5 cm/yr (+3.3 ± 6.7 cm/yr or
+2.9 ± 0.9 SD score, both groups combined). In the
conventional treatment group, GV progressively declined with the
duration of GH treatment (Fig. 1
). This
decline was still significant when GV was expressed as a SD
score, taking into account the progressive decline in GV in untreated
patients with TS (Fig. 1B
). Patients in the adapted dose group received
1.5 ± 0.3 U/kg·BW during the 4-yr trial, and at the end of the
trial, 79% received the highest dose, and 21% received the
intermediate dose (Fig. 2
). The adapted
GH dose resulted in significantly higher GV than the fixed dose during
the second semester and the third year of treatment (Fig. 1
). GV was 2
SD score or greater during 67% of the semesters in the
adapted dose group and 44% of the semesters in the conventional group
(P = 0.0003, by
2 test). However, our
initial goal of doubling the pretreatment GV was only achieved in 12,
10, 8, 4, 5, 4, 3, and 1 of our 14 patients during the 8 consecutive
semesters (42% of the 112 patient-semesters). During the fourth year,
GV was 5.1 ± 1.4 cm/yr in the adapted dose group
(P < 0.05 vs. pretreatment GV) and 4.4
± 1.4 cm/yr in the conventional group (P = NS
vs. pretreatment GV). We compared GV during the 6 months
before and after the first and second increments in GH dose (Fig. 3
); doubling the GH dose from 0.7 to 1.4
U/kg·BW increased GV by 1.6 ± 1.8 cm/yr or 2.9 ± 0.9
SD score (P < 0.006), whereas increasing
the GH dose from 1.4 to 2.1 U/kg·BW increased GV by 0.8 ± 1.3
cm/yr or 0.7 ± 1.2 SD score (P = NS).
This relatively small increase contrasts with the marked downward trend
of GV in the conventional group.
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FH were evaluated in patients with bone ages of 13.5 yr or
greater, with mean actual bone ages of nearly 16 and 15 yr in both
groups, corresponding to all patients of the conventional group and 12
of 14 in the adapted dose group (Table 3
). FH were significantly higher in the
adapted dose than in the conventional group. Comparison of pretreatment
predicted height and actual FH showed a 10.6 ± 3.8-cm increment
in the adapted dose group and a 5.2 ± 3.7-cm increment in the
conventional group (P < 0.01; Table 3
and Fig. 4
). This height gain was 4 cm or more in
all patients in the adapted dose group and in 13 of 17 patients in the
conventional group. Compared to the general population, 10 of 12
patients (83%) in the adapted dose group had a FH superior or equal to
-2 SD score compared to only 5 of 17 (29%) in the
conventional group. In addition, the 2 patients in the adapted dose
group who have not reached FH have current heights of 152.5 and 150 cm,
with bone ages of 13 and 12.5 yr.
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| Discussion |
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Catch-up growth induced by the initiation of treatment is dose dependent in TS (9, 25, 26), but the initial acceleration of GV is invariably followed by a deceleration, a poorly understood phenomenon. Several strategies have been discussed to compensate for this secondary GH resistance: earlier age at initiation of treatment, use of higher initial doses (27), stepwise increment of GH dose (26), multiplication of injections (28, 29), or addition of sex steroids (15, 18). However, the analysis is complicated by several factors, such as increased bone age maturation with estrogens (30, 31) and possibly with GH (32) or oxandrolone (33). Our results confirm that during GH treatment, the growth response to similar increments in GH dose decreases (+3.3 vs. +1.6 vs. +0.8 cm/yr with doses increasing from 0 to 0.7, then to 1.4, and then to 2.1 U/kg·BW). An approach similar to ours was used by Van Teunenbroek et al. (26), who compared a fixed GH dose to stepwise increased doses. They observed a 3.3-cm, or 0.61 SD score, greater height gain with their highest compared to their lowest dose. These results are comparable to ours, although the highest dose used in their study was similar to our intermediate dose (1.4 U/kg BW). However, the patients treated by Van Teunenbroek et al. (26) were younger at the initiation of therapy than in our study (6.4 vs. 10.2 yr). Whether the improvement of results we have observed with adapted doses are due to the higher mean dose or to the dose adjustment itself remains to be determined.
Although final results are the most worthy goal of GH treatment in TS, their evaluation is methodologically difficult. The comparison with historical control groups has been criticized (12, 34), whereas prediction methods (21) are generally favored (6, 11, 12, 35). However, predicted FH using Lyons method seems to exceed the actual FH of untreated patients by 1.83.3 cm (19, 35). Using, this method, therefore, might underestimate the effects of GH treatment. Our results in the conventional group are similar to previously reported data for patients treated at a relatively late age (11 yr), with estimated height benefits averaging 5.2 cm. In contrast, the adapted dose treatment produced a 10.6 ± 3.8-cm increase in FH over predicted height, a result exceeding by at least 2 cm those of all other reported studies (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19). It is noteworthy that the difference between the two groups at the end of the 4-yr trial (+4 cm) was maintained when FH was reached (+5.4 cm).
Estrogen therapy was introduced at a relatively late age in both groups of patients, and we believe that this contributed to the FH results we observed. Although the optimal age of introduction of estrogens in TS is still a matter of debate, the results of all studies converge to indicate that early introduction of estrogens has a deleterious effect on height (30, 31). Further studies are needed to evaluate the end results of such a delayed initiation of puberty in terms of psychological consequences as well as on the constitution of bone mass.
In conclusion, a marked increment in the GH dose in girls with TS only partially prevented the waning effect of the growth response. However, this 4-yr treatment regimen, associated with a relatively late age at introduction of estrogen therapy, produced a 10.6-cm estimated height gain and brought 83% of the patients into the lower range of the normal height distribution of the general population. Further studies will be needed to determine the best therapeutic modalities to obtain similar results while increasing cost-effectiveness and mimicking a physiological pubertal development.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received July 17, 1997.
Revised January 15, 1998.
Accepted January 21, 1998.
| References |
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