Bromocriptine treatment in tall adolescents: two years of clinical experience

34 adolescents referred for excessive height prediction (HP) (11 boys with HP greater than 196 cm, 23 girls with HP greater than 180 cm) were treated for 9-15 months with bromocriptine (5-7.5 mg/day). Minor and transient side effects were observed in 20% of the subjects at the beginning of the treatment. Treatment had to be stopped in 1 boy complaining of asthenia and headache. Puberty developed normally, 19 girls experienced menarche during treatment and 1 continued regular menses. Bromocriptine treatment induced: (1) a significant decrease (p less than 0.001) in growth velocity from (mean +/- SEM) 8.6 +/- 0.4 to 5.3 +/- 1.5 cm/year in boys and from 7.1 +/- 0.2 to 4.6 +/- 0.6 cm/year in girls; (2) a twofold mean increase in skeletal maturation rate. Adult HP was reduced significantly from 202 +/- 1.4 to 195.4 +/- 1.2 cm in boys, and from 184 +/- 0.7 to 179.8 +/- 0.7 in girls. These results confirm our previous report suggesting that bromocriptine is a valuable alternative to sex steroid treatment in order to limit the final height in excessively tall adolescents.