The Clinical Characteristics of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Abstract

This study was performed to investigate the clinical features of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) with steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency and to compare the salt-wasting (SW) type with the simple virilizing (SV) type. Twenty-seven patients (15 boys, 12 girls) who received a diagnosis of CAH at Chonnam University Hospital from May 1998 to May 2008 were enrolled in the present study. The patients’ medical records were analyzed retrospectively. Age and clinical symptoms at diagnosis, ratio of bone age to chronologic age, body mass index (BMI), and treatment dose of hydrocortisone were reviewed. Of the 27 patients, 16 patients had SW type and 11 patients had SV type. The SV patients were significantly older (p<0.05) at the time of diagnosis (45.1±40.4 months) than were the SW patients (1.8±4.4 months). In the SW patients, the initial ratio of bone age to chronologic age was 1.10±0.15 in the boys and 1.52±0.74 in the girls, and the final BMI was 16.6±2.81 kg/m in the boys and 17.4±4.21 kg/m in the girls. In the SV patients, the initial ratio of bone age to chronologic age was 1.26±0.38 in the boys and 1.45±0.31 in the girls, and the final BMI was 17.5±2.62 kg/m in the boys and 19.6±1.80 kg/m in the girls. The treatment dose of hydrocortisone was 18.4±6.54 mg/m/day in the SW patients and 16.1±5.50 mg/m/day in the SV patients. The ratio of bone age to chronological age, BMI, and dose of hydrocortisone were not significantly different between the SV and SW patients.