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Growth hormone in blood sampled continuously during pentobarbitone-induced sleep in children
Insights
Measuring growth hormone (GH) during sleep in children is effective. Two samples provide similar data to continuous monitoring, aiding diagnosis of growth disorders.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Sleep Medicine
- Hormone Assays
Background:
- Assessing growth hormone (GH) secretion is crucial for diagnosing pediatric growth disorders.
- Nocturnal GH release during sleep is a key indicator, but continuous monitoring is resource-intensive.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the diagnostic utility of limited blood sampling for GH estimation during sleep in children.
- To determine if a reduced sampling strategy can effectively differentiate between normal and abnormal growth patterns.
Main Methods:
- Continuous blood sampling for GH was performed every 30 minutes during pentobarbitone-induced sleep in 69 children.
- Analysis focused on comparing GH levels obtained from continuous sampling versus only two 30-minute samples.
Main Results:
- Two half-hour samples provided comparable data to continuous monitoring, achieving 95% accuracy for normally growing children (GH levels ≥ 5 mIU/ml).
- Children with unexplained growth retardation and overweight children exhibited lower average GH levels (< 5 mIU/ml).
- Pituitary dwarfs consistently showed maximum GH levels ≤ 3 mIU/ml.
Conclusions:
- Limited blood sampling (two 30-minute intervals) during sleep is a practical and effective method for assessing GH secretion in children.
- Nocturnal GH levels can be normal in children with negative provocative test results, and subnormal levels may occur in some with retarded growth despite normal provocation response.
Abstract:
Growth hormone has been estimated in blood sampled continuously in periods each lasting 30 min during the first 3-4 h of pentobarbitone-induced sleep in 69 children. With only two half-hour samples, almost the same information was obtained as with the estimation of growth hormone in all samples. In this way 95% of normally growing children showed growth hormone levels of 5 muU/ml of more. Children with growth retardation of unknown cause and overweight children showed on the average lower growth hormone levels, not rarely even below 5 muU/ml. Pituitary dwarfs all had maximum growth hormone levels of 3 muU/ml or less. Growth hormone levels during sleep may be normal in children who show negative results on provocation, while subnormal growth hormone levels during sleep have been encountered in some children with retarded growth who had a normal response upon provocation.