Differential effects of oestrogen treatment on the proportionality of growth in tall girls

We studied the differential inhibitory effects of conjugated oestrogens on lower leg length and standing height increments in 17 excessively tall girls compared to a control group of 17 tall healthy untreated girls. Standing height, lower leg length and body weight were recorded at weekly or monthly intervals. Standing height velocity dropped from 150 microns/day to 122 microns/day, whereas daily weight gain increased from 17 to 48 g/day during oestrogen treatment. The oestrogen induced decrease of standing height velocity could be explained by a marked inhibition of lower leg growth velocity from 42 microns/day to 30 microns/day (native data) or 35 microns/day to 8 microns/day (data corrected for weight gain) (P less than 0.001), whereas no differences of trunk growth velocity could be detected. Thus, the findings strongly suggest that pharmacological doses of oestrogens only affect epiphyseal growth.