Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Analogue Treatment in Females with Moderately Early Puberty: No Effect on Final Height

To investigate the effects of treatment with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa) on final height in girls who experienced moderately early puberty with symptoms beginning at 7-8.5 years of age.

Female cases diagnosed with moderately early puberty which had started between ages 7 to 8.5 years were included in the study. In the treatment groups, all cases with a bone age ≤10.5 years constituted group 1 (n=18) and those with a bone age >10.5 years constituted group 2 (n=23). The 8 patients for which treatment approval could not be obtained constituted group 3. The 49 cases in all three groups were observed until they reached their final height.

Target height, target height standard deviation score (SDS), final height, and final height SDS values were similar in all 3 groups. Final height showed a significant positive correlation with target height (p=0.000, r=0.54) and height at diagnosis (p=0.003, r=0.467) in all groups. Linear regression analysis revealed that a 1 cm longer height at diagnosis increased the final height 0.213 fold, and a 1 cm longer target height at diagnosis increased the final height 0.459 fold.

We found that GnRHa did not make a positive contribution to final height in cases of moderately early puberty.