Relationship between final height and health outcomes in adults with congenital adrenal hyperplasia: United Kingdom congenital adrenal hyperplasia adult study executive (CaHASE)

Abstract

Context: Treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in childhood focuses on growth and development and adult final height (FH) is a measure of effective treatment.Wehypothesized that shorter adults will have more severe underlying disease and worse health outcomes. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis of 199 adults with CAH. FH and quality of life were expressed as z-scores adjusted for midparental target height or UK population height. Results:FHcorrelated inverselywithage(men,r=-0.38;women,r=-0.26,P < .05) and in moderately affected genotype group B women than either more severely affected groups null and A (P < .01) or the mildest group C (P < .001). Short stature and a higher prevalence of hypertension were observed in classic CAH patients diagnosed late (after 1 y) compared with those diagnosed early and in women treated with glucocorticoid only compared with those treated with both glucocorticoidsandmineralocorticoids (P