Skeletal maturity was not accelerated by treatment with recombinant growth hormone ( hGH ) .
BACKGROUND Turner syndrome ( TS ) affects about one in 1500 to 2500 live-born females .
One of the most prevalent and salient features of the syndrome is extremely short stature .
Untreated women are approximately 20 to 21 cm shorter than normal women within their respective population s. Recombinant human growth hormone ( hGH ) has been used to increase growth and final height in girls who have Turner syndrome .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of recombinant growth hormone in children and adolescents with TS .
Absence of growth hormone effects on cognitive function in girls with Turner syndrome.
Turner syndrome ( TS ) is a genetic disorder characterized by short stature , gonadal dysgenesis , and a particular neurocognitive profile of normally developed language abilities ( particularly verbal IQ ) and impaired visual-spatial and /or visual-perceptual abilities . We have followed a large sample of girls with Turner syndrome who were enrolled in a long-term , double-blind , placebo-controlled trial of the effects of growth hormone ( GH ) treatment on final adult height . This study provides a unique opportunity to prospect ively evaluate the effects of GH treatment on neurocognitive function in this population of girls with Turner syndrome . The GH- and placebo-treated Turner syndrome subjects were well matched for age , treatment duration , race , karyotype , and socioeconomic status . Treatment ( GH or placebo ) duration s ranged from 1 - 7 yr . Whether GH deficiency and /or treatment in childhood and adolescence influences cognitive outcome in short children or GH-children is controversial . The major result of this study was the absence of GH treatment effects on cognitive function in girls with Turner syndrome . Our findings are in agreement with most of the previous studies that found no apparent growth hormone treatment effects on cognitive function in growth-hormone deficient children . We conclude that this study does not support a role for growth hormone in influencing childhood brain development in girls with Turner syndrome . Their characteristic nonverbal neurocognitive deficits were not altered with GH treatment into early adolescence
Skeletal maturity was not accelerated by treatment with recombinant growth hormone ( hGH ) .
BACKGROUND Turner syndrome ( TS ) affects about one in 1500 to 2500 live-born females .
One of the most prevalent and salient features of the syndrome is extremely short stature .
Untreated women are approximately 20 to 21 cm shorter than normal women within their respective population s. Recombinant human growth hormone ( hGH ) has been used to increase growth and final height in girls who have Turner syndrome .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of recombinant growth hormone in children and adolescents with TS .