Carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in Turner syndrome: effect of therapy with growth hormone, oxandrolone, and a combination of both.

To evaluate the effects of growth-promoting therapy on carbohydrate metabolism in girls with Turner syndrome, we determined glucose and insulin concentrations during oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) at baseline and after 5 days, 2 months, and 12 months of treatment with growth hormone (GH), oxandrolone, or a combination of GH and oxandrolone, or after the same intervals with no therapy. Before therapy, subjects had a significantly greater glucose response during OGTT than published normal control values. There were no significant changes in mean fasting glucose, cholesterol, or triglyceride concentrations in any of the treatment groups. The integrated glucose concentrations rose significantly over baseline values in the oxandrolone group at 2 and 12 months and in the combination group at 5 days. There were significant increases in the mean integrated insulin concentrations at 2 and 12 months for the group receiving oxandrolone alone and at all three times for the group receiving combination therapy. Thus oxandrolone, alone or in combination with GH, had significant effects on carbohydrate metabolism in subjects with Turner syndrome, whereas GH alone did not.