Introduction: Turner syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal disease regarded as the most common cause of pathological short stature in women. TS patients frequently present with abnormalities in the structure of the vertebrae and limb bones, leading to this assessment of posture in girls and women with TS.
Aim of the study: Assessment of posture in TS patients.
Materials and methods: Posture was assessed in 63 TS patients ranging between 6-27 years of age. All patients under 16 years of age were undergoing treatment with recombinant human growth hormone. The older patients had received the treatment in the past and were undergoing oestrogen or combined oestrogen and progesterone treatment. The TS diagnosis was confirmed in each case by a cytogenetic study. Two methods of posture assessment were used: Moire's photogrammetric (in 68% patients) or an orthopaedic examination (in 32% of patients). Posture was assessed in the median and frontal planes.
Results: The photogrammetric assessment in the median plane found normal posture among 30% of patients, 33% of patients exhibited lordosis, while 28% of patients exhibited kyphosis. Orthopaedic examination in the medial plane found normal posture among half of patients under 16 years of age, while all the older patients (n=4) exhibited faulty posture. Clinical examination found more cases of kyphosis than other posture defects. In the frontal plane over half of all patients were found to have scoliosis, irrespective of patient's age or method used.
Conclusions: Because of the numerous and diverse posture defects found in the studied patients, routine assessment of posture in all TS patients is recommended. From the clinical perspective it seems that a single method of posture assessment in TS patients is recommended to simplify comparison of assessment results and improve understanding of the frequency of incidence of individual posture defects in TS patients.