ESPE Abstracts

Background: Constitutional delay of growth and puberty (CDGP) is one of the most common problems of pediatrics. It causes a lot of psychological and social disorders in families. Currently there are a variety of therapies including administration of testosterone enantate, oxandrolone and growth hormone.

Objective: The aim of this study, which has been performed as the first in Iran and the second in the world, is the comparison between effects of oral iron in combination with vitamin A with oxandrolone in promotion of height growth and bone age of these children. And HSDS, WSDS, BMI, SMR, bone age and serum IGF-1 level are used as milestones of such improvement in this study.

Materials and methods: This clinical trial has been performed on 85 CDGP boys. After registration of personal identities and taking blood, urine and stool specimens to rule out probable underlying diseases and interfering factors, the children were divided into three groups include control, treated with oxandrolone and treated with oral iron and vitamin A. Data were transferred to SPSS program where the results were analyzed by paired T-, ANOVA, Tukey, and Wilcoxon–Kruskal–Wallis tests.

Results: There was no significant difference between the treated groups in HSDS (P value =0.56) and WSDS (P value =0.08), BMI (P value=0.51). On the other hand there was a significant difference in SMR (P value < 0.0001) and bone age (P value <0.0001) between them. Eventually there was not significant difference in serum IGF-1 level between two treated groups (P value=0.98).

Conclusion: Iron and vitamin A can be used instead of oxandrolone in CDGP children with the same therapeutic and without the adverse effects seen in oxandrolone administration. In addition, this new therapeutic method has no significant effect on SMR and bone age promotion in contrast with oxandrolone therapy. Keywords: CDGP, BMI, SMR, bone age, IGF-1