OBJECTIVES: to assess the growth and nutritional recovery of patients with the classical salt-wasting form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia in the first two years of life. METHODS: z scores for weight and height were calculated for 21 patients at birth, on the occasion of the first medical consultation and at one and two years of age. The concentrations of 17-hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione and the doses of hydrocortisone prescribed at the first medical concentrations up to the age of two years were determined (at one and two years of age respectively). RESULTS: the mean age for the first medical consultation was 36.7 days. The z score for weight at birth was -0.23±1.4; on the occasion of the first consulta tion -2.31±1.3; at the age of one year -1.43±1.6 and at the age of two years -0.77± 1.3. The z score for height at birth was -0.69±2.3; on the occasion of the first consultation -1.87±1.7; at one year of age 1.68±1.1 and at two years -1.07±1.0. The difference between the scores at two years of age and on the occasion of the first medical consultation was 1.54±1.7 for weight and 0.80±1.6 for height. The mean dosage of hydrocortisone prescribed was 21.3 and 19.9 mg/m2/day for periods 1 and 2 and the concentrations (ng/dL) of 17-hydroxyprogesterone and androstenedione were 9.1 and 0.14 for period 1 and 4.4 and 0.27 for period 2. CONCLUSIONS: nutritional recovery was observed to occur on treatment and, at two years of age, weight and height are normal, although below the average for the population at large.
Growth; Adrenal hyperplasia, congenital; Adrenal glands
