Clinical characterization of girls with Turner syndrome

Abstract

Turner syndrome is a genetic disorder that occurs in women with partial or complete absence of an X chromosome. Objective: To describe the clinical, laboratory, and genotypic characteristics of patients with Turner syndrome, treated at three health institutions in Medellin. Patients and Method: A retrospective study was carried out. A total of 97 patients with Turner syndrome (< 18 years) con-firmed by karyotype between 2011 and 2018 were included. Patients whose karyotype did not meet the specification of the American College of Medical Genetics were excluded. Data on sociodemo-graphic details, nutritional variables, phenotypic characteristics, and laboratory tests were collected. A descriptive analysis was performed in SPSS software version 20. Results: Median age at diagnosis was 8.5 years (IQR 4-12). The main clinical characteristic was short stature (90%). Additionally, they presented cardiovascular malformations (35%), renal alterations (26%), hearing disorders, mainly hypoacusis (33%), and neuropsychiatric disorders (44%). The most frequent karyotype was 45,X (51%) followed by 45,X/46,XX (14%). The patients with 45,X karyotype had the most classic clinical characteristics. Patients > 5 years old had a higher proportion of weight excess than the general po-pulation. Dyslipidemia was found in 62% and hypothyroidism in 22%. 70% of patients > 11 years received pubertal induction; 23% presented spontaneous puberty and 44% of them required hormo-nal maintenance. 86% received somatropin. Conclusion: The patients with Turner syndrome in our study presented a high frequency of short stature and cardiovascular, renal, hearing, endocrine, and neuropsychiatric comorbidities. The diagnosis was delayed due to the lack of clinical suspicion given its variable presentation.