Height attainment in children with steroid-responsive nephrotic syndrome

The heights of 80 patients with steroid-responsive nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) were measured 5-24 years after diagnosis. During childhood most patients had received repeated courses of high-dose corticosteroids and prolonged maintenance therapy. Although at the time of taking corticosteroids growth was suppressed, those who had completed growth had a mean height standard deviation score (SDS) of -0.22, equivalent to a height on the 40th centile. Total corticosteroid dose prescribed was correlated only weakly with height SDS; there was no correlation between total dose and height when the post-pubertal patients were studied separately, indicating that their ultimate height attainment was not affected significantly.