[A preliminary study on relationship between concentrations of human growth hormone in urine (HGH-U) and puberty]

The aim of this study is to investigate relationship between the concentration of human growth hormone in urine (HGH-U) and puberty, and to find a simple, accurate, and acceptable way of judging puberty of patients.

The concentration of HGH-U was measured by using radioimmunoassay in 277 students of Chengdu, and students were divided into three different groups, according to their ages (9, 13, 17 years old). Half of them are male. In order to evaluate the relationship between the concentration of HGH-U and puberty, the information of age, height, weight, growth velocity and sex character of all individuals were obtained, and analyzed their relation with the concentration of individuals' HGH-U.

1. There was no significant difference in the concentration of HGH-U between the 9-year-old group and the 13-year-old group, but there is significant difference between the concentration of HGH-U in the 9-year-old, 13-year-old groups and that of the 17-year-old group, and the concentration in the latter group is lower than those of the former two groups. 2. The concentration of HGH-U was negatively correlated with height, body weight, age, sex character and growth velocity (P < 0.05), but the correlation coefficient is low. 3. The coefficients of variation of HGH-U in all group were higher than 30%, which indicated a low dispersion degree.

The concentration of HGH-U cannot be used as an independent indicator to evaluate puberty of children.