Growth Hormone and Estrogen for Girls with Turner Syndrome

Growth hormone (GH) increases adult height in girls with Turner syndrome, but does prepubertal low-dose estrogen add to the growth benefit? In a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, researchers randomized 149 girls with Turner's syndrome (age range, 5.0–12.5 years) to one of four groups: GH injection plus oral estrogen, GH injection plus oral placebo, placebo injection plus oral estrogen, or double placebo. GH (0.1 mg/kg three times per week) was given until growth velocity slowed to <1.5 cm/year and low-dose estrogen (ethinyl estradiol, 25–50 ng/kg/day) was given until age 12, when patients began estrogen-replacement therapy.

At a mean age of 17 years, GH increased adult or estimated adult height by about 5 cm compared with plac…