Analysis of the Potential for Height Growth at Different Stages of Puberty Based on Bone Age in Healthy Girls

Many parents are concerned about their child's final height with the onset of the larche. We decided to investigate the height potential in different stages of puberty.

731 healthy girls who had not yet completed puberty were studied. Bone age and predicted final height were assessed. The correlation of height potential with various indices has been investigated.

The Mean age was 9.88±1.3 years. The girls have a mean height potential of 28.90, 25.64, 20.89, and 13.76 cm in thelarche stages of 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively (p =0.001), and a mean height
potential of 27.19, 21.46, 15.51 and 11.02 cm in pubarche stages of 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively (p
=0.001). Height potential was inversely related to pubarche stage (p-value =0.004) , chronological age (r = 0.74, p-value =0.001), bone age (p-value <0.001) and Height Standard Deviation score (SDS) (p
<0.001). It was not related to the thelarche stage, target height, or BMI SDS. Linear regression showed that the height potential has a significant relationship with pubarche stage (P=0.004) but not with the thelarche stage ((P=0.267).

This study found that potential height has no significant relationship with the thelarche stage. On the other hand, pubarche is associated with advanced bone age and lower height potential.