Longitudinal Height Growth in Children and Adolescents with Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus Compared to Controls in Pune, India.

Background: Height growth is affected by longterm childhood morbidity. Objectives: To compare the growth curves of Indian children diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and a control group of children without diabetes, and to see how parental height and disease severity affect the growth pattern. Results: SITAR explained 99% of the variance in height, the mean curves by sex showing that compared to controls, the children with diabetes were shorter (by 4/5 cm for boys/girls), with a later (by 1/6 months) and less intense (-5%/-10%) pubertal growth spurt. Adjusted for mean height, timing and intensity, the diabetic and control mean curves were very similar in shape. SITAR modeling showed that mean HbA1c peaked at 10.5% at age 15 years, 1.0% higher than earlier in childhood. Individual growth patterns were highly significantly related to parental height, age at diabetes diagnosis, diabetes duration, and mean HbA1c. Mean height was 3.4 cm more per + 1 SD midparental height, and in girls, 2 cm less per + 1 SD HbA1c. Conclusion: The results show that the physiological response to T1DM is to grow more slowly, and to delay and extend the pubertal growth spurt. The effects are dose-related, with more severe disease associated with greater growth faltering.