Attempt To Suppress Excessive Growth in Girls by Estrogen Treatment: Statistical Evaluation

ABSTRACT. Fourteen healthy girls, aged 9.5–14.4 years, whose average predicted adult height was 70 inches, were given estrogens for an average of 23 months in an attempt to reduce adult height. Seven girls, whose average predicted height was 69.3 inches, attained an average observed height of 68.9 inches. The difference between predicted and observed adult height is not statistically significant. In 7 girls who have not yet attained adult height, predicted average adult heights before and after treatment were identical at 71.4 inches. Estrogen treatment accelerated the rate of skeletal maturation to 1.26 years per chronologic year. (The normal rate is 0.93.) Since predicted height was unchanged, estrogen must have increased the rate of linear growth simultaneously and proportionately. The use of statistically valid samples is urged to avoid misinterpreting individual variations as therapeutic results.