Abstract

The growth records of 64 patients with 45,XO chromosome constitution have been analysed. The extremely short stature of adults with this condition (142·5 cm) appears to be due to intrauterine growth failure, to a gradual decline in height velocity in childhood, and to the absence of a pubertal growth spurt. Pubic hair appeared in 68% of patients but was delayed both in relation to chronological age and to bone age. The growth failure is presumably the result of a genetic abnormality in the bones of these patients.

Treatment with oestrogens caused development of secondary sex characteristics but did not appear to affect final stature. The age of the patient when treatment was administered was not of significance in affecting the final height of the patients. Despite the reduction in adult height, the correlation between the height of the patients with Turner's syndrome and their parents was maintained, a roughly constant amount of height being lost through the chromosomal abnormality. This suggests that the genes whose action underlies the variation in adult height among the normal population must be located for the most part on the autosomes.