3.1.4. Growth and Puberty throughout Follow-Up

In 81 patients (45 females and 36 males), follow-up encompassed their entire pubertal development (from its onset, or Tanner stage II, to its completion and attainment of adult height). Mean duration of puberty in this group was 3.23 ± 1.16 years, with no differences according to sex or race. In girls, the time from puberty onset (Tanner stage II) to menarche was 1.65 ± 0.91 years, again with no ethnicity-based differences. A negative correlation between the duration of puberty and baseline BMI-SDS was observed (r = −0.25; *p* < 0.05).

The pubertal growth spurt in this group was 16.29 ± 5.80 cm, with no differences between sexes and with a negative correlation between the degree of the growth spurt and the severity of obesity at baseline estimated by BMI-SDS (r = −0.38; *p* < 0.01).

In addition to these 81 patients, 227 additional patients achieved their final height during their follow-up (total 308 patients with available adult height). Their mean adult height was above their predicted target height (mean parental height +/− 6.5 for boys and girls, respectively) by +0.29 ± 0.94 SDS (+ 1.6 ± 5.4 cm; *p* < 0.001). In this group, adult height prediction using the Bailey Pinneau method using their bone age at their first visit was shown to overestimate the attained final height by +0.22 ± 0.78 SDS (+ 1.5 ± 4.56 cm, *p* < 0.001). This overestimation was greater in males and prepubertal patients.
