Although it was expected that such patients with delayed puberty will ultimately reach average normal heights (Fig. 13.20), recent studies have suggested that height prediction in these children is overly optimistic and that the children achieve heights several cm shorter than expected. These patients are usually brought for evaluation because of the tendency to short stature due to genetic factors that are intensified by delayed puberty and lack of a pubertal growth spurt.
Growth rate in these children may decline prior to the onset of their pubertal growth spurt.
