A study of height, weight and menarche in girls with idiopathic structural scoliosis.

In a series of girls with idiopathic structural scoliosis the height, weight and age at menarche were studied. It was found that the girls were on the average taller than a control population and that except for the most severe cases their height was greater even if the trunk shortening caused by the deformity was not accounted for. The girls with scoliosis were also somewhat leaner. They did not deviate in age at menarche from normal girls in Sweden but there was a positive relationship between the age at diagnosis of the deformity and the age at menarche. When assessed together with previous data on the subject of height in children with scoliosis in Sweden it must be concluded that children with this deformity have a growth pattern which deviates significantly from that of the normal population.