The Effect of Androgen and Growth Hormone on Height and Learning in Girls With Turner Syndrome

The Effects of Androgen, Estrogen, and the Combination of Androgen and Estrogen on Growth Rate and Cognitive Function of Growth Hormone-treated Girls With Turner Syndrome

The purposes of this study are to learn whether treatment with an androgen type hormone will improve the visual-spatial problems associated with Turner syndrome, and to evaluate the effect growth hormone, with and without androgen, has on growth.

Turner syndrome is associated with short stature, multiple physical stigmata, absent pubertal development, and increased learning problems. This study is designed to (1) examine the effects of sex steroids (androgen and estrogen) on multiple variables including growth rate, GH binding protein, IGF-I, IGFBP3, and cognitive function in the setting of supplemental growth hormone administration and (2) to investigate any synergistic or additive effects of the androgen and estrogen combination versus each alone, on the above variables.

• Karyotype diagnosis compatible with Turner syndrome, but no presence of any Y material in the peripheral karyotype unless a gonadectomy has been performed;
• Chronological age between 10.0 and 14.9 years;
• Bone age less than or equal to 12 years; and
• No treatment with estrogen, androgen, growth hormone, or any other growth-promoting agents exceeding 12 months, and no treatment with any of these agents in the previous 3 months.