[Pubertal growth, final height and weight gain in girls diagnosed with IDDM during pre-pubertal period]

Girls diagnosed of type 1 diabetes mellitus during the prepubertal stage may present reduced longitudinal growth and have a tendency to be overweight after puberty starts. Our objective was to evaluate the growth, pubertal growth spurt, final height and weight gain of diabetic girls diagnosed of insulin dependent diabetes during the prepubertal period.

We evaluated retrospectively the longitudinal growth and body mass index (BMI) of 17 girls diagnosed of type 1 diabetes before puberty, from the time of diagnosis until final height. The effects of age at diagnosis, evolution time, insulin therapy (conventional or intensified), insulin dose and metabolic control on growth were analyzed.

The final height attained was 161 +/- 4 cm, which is within the target height range. The height at diagnosis (0.31 +/- 0.71) was normal in relationship to the reference population, showing a significant reduction upon reaching the final height (-0.18 +/- 0.77). The BMI was significantly increased when it was compared at final height (0.99 +/- 0.79) with the index obtained one year after the onset of diabetes (0.04 +/- 0.63). The insulin therapy regimen did not affect the evolution of the patients and no significant relationship existed between the age at diagnosis, duration of diabetes, daily insulin dosage or metabolic control and height or BMI.

The final height of type 1 diabetic girls is reduced and adolescent diabetic girls have a tendency to be overweight. Metabolic control (for the range observed in these patients) or insulin dosage does not seem to affect the growth of diabetic girls.