Growth Curves of Chinese Children with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome: A Multicenter Registry Study

Xiu Zhao; Zhe Su; Shaoke Chen; Xiumin Wang; Yu Yang; Linqi Chen; Li Liang; Geli Liu; Yi Wang; Yanning Song; Lijun Fan; Xiaoya Ren; Chunxiu Gong

doi:10.3390/jpm12050771

Growth Curves of Chinese Children with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome: A Multicenter Registry Study

J Pers Med. 2022 May 10;12(5):771. doi: 10.3390/jpm12050771.

Authors

Xiu Zhao¹, Zhe Su¹, Shaoke Chen², Xiumin Wang³, Yu Yang⁴, Linqi Chen⁵, Li Liang⁶, Geli Liu⁷, Yi Wang⁸, Yanning Song⁸, Lijun Fan⁸, Xiaoya Ren⁸, Chunxiu Gong⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Endocrinology, Shenzhen Children's Hospital, Shenzhen 518028, China.
² Department of Pediatrics, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530007, China.
³ Department of Endocrinology, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200120, China.
⁴ Department of Endocrinology, Jiangxi Provincial Children's Hospital, Nanchang 330006, China.
⁵ Department of Endocrinology, Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215008, China.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310006, China.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China.
⁸ Center of Endocrinology, Genetics and Metabolism, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing 100045, China.

Abstract

Objective: To provide new information about androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), we studied growth patterns in Chinese children with AIS. Subjects: Data are from 118 untreated AIS patients who were admitted to eight pediatric endocrine centers from January 2010 to December 2019. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, clinical data were collected from a multicenter database. We compared physical assessment data among AIS patients and standard growth charts for Chinese pediatric population. Results: 1. Children with AIS grew slightly less than the mean before 6 months of age, and then, height gradually increased before 12 years of age, from the median to +1 standard deviation (SD), according to the standard reference for Chinese pediatric population. After 12 years of age, height showed differently in profiles: The mean height in AIS patients gradually decreased from the mean to −1 SD, according to the standard for Chinese boys, and increased from the mean to +2 SD, according to the standard for Chinese girls. 2. The weights of children with AIS were greater than the mean standards of Chinese pediatric population from newborn to 11 years of age. From 12−16 years of age, the mean weight of children with AIS showed different profiles, from the mean to −1 SD, according to the standard for Chinese boys and from the mean to +1.5 SD, according to the standard for Chinese girls. 3. Weight standard deviation (WtSDS) and target height (THt) in northern Chinese AIS patients were significantly higher than those from the southern region (p = 0.035, 0.005, respectively). Age in northern Chinese AIS patients was significantly younger than those from the southern region (p = 0.034). No difference was found among birth weight (BW), birth length (BL), height standard deviation (HtSDS) and body mass index (BMI) in AIS patients from different regions (p > 0.05). 4. HtSDS and WtSDS in complete AIS (CAIS) patients were higher than those in partial AIS (PAIS) patients without significant difference (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Growth of children with AIS varied to different degrees. AIS patients seemed not to experience a puberty growth spurt. CAIS and PAIS patients show little difference in their growth. Regional differences have no effect on the height but influence the weight of AIS patients.

Keywords: androgen insensitivity syndrome; androgen receptor; androgens; growth; growth curves.

Abstract

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