Maturation factors in slipped capital femoral epiphysis.

Several maturation factors relative to growth and epiphyseal development were reviewed retrospectively in 191 patients with slipped capital femoral epiphysis, including bone age, height and weight, thyroid functions, sex hormone levels, and growth hormone levels. Seventy-one percent of 138 patients had weights above the 80th percentile. Active thyroid (T3) was significantly low in 25% of 80 patients studied. Testosterone levels were markedly depressed in 76% of 64 patients tested. In this same group, 87% had low growth hormone levels. The consistently low testosterone and growth hormone levels, along with a tendency toward hypothyroidism, lend support to the biochemical theory of a delicate hormonal imbalance in slipped capital femoral epiphysis.