Normal urinary growth hormone measurement in short-stature early pubertal boys may help to exclude growth hormone

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Comparative Analysis of Human Growth Hormone in Serum Using SPRi, Nano-SPRi and ELISA Assays
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Comparative Analysis of Human Growth Hormone in Serum Using SPRi, Nano-SPRi and ELISA Assays

Published on: January 7, 2016

A C Moreira1, A C Costa

  • 1Division of Endocrinology, Faculty of Medicine, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.

Endocrine Practice : Official Journal of the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists
|July 15, 2004
PubMed

Insights

Urinary growth hormone (U-GH) measurement can predict growth rates in short-stature boys. Higher U-GH levels in these boys may indicate normal growth, potentially delaying provocative testing.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Endocrinology
  • Growth Hormone Physiology

Background:

  • Constitutional short stature (CSS) in boys presents diagnostic challenges.
  • Assessing growth hormone (GH) secretion is crucial for managing short stature.
  • Pharmacological tests for GH deficiency can be invasive and sometimes yield ambiguous results.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the utility of urinary growth hormone (U-GH) as a predictor of growth rate in young boys.
  • To compare U-GH levels in boys with CSS to those in normal and GH-deficient children.

Main Methods:

  • U-GH concentrations were measured in five early pubertal boys with CSS.
  • U-GH levels were compared with those from normal prepubertal/pubertal children and GH-deficient children.
  • U-GH results were correlated with subsequent growth rates and plasma GH responses to provocative tests.

Main Results:

  • In boys with CSS, U-GH levels ranged from 3.7 to 9.7 ng/night, indicating normal growth potential despite blunted plasma GH responses.
  • Normal prepubertal and pubertal children had U-GH levels of 2.2 +/- 0.2 and 4.1 +/- 0.5 ng/night, respectively.
  • GH-deficient children showed lower U-GH levels (1.1 +/- 0.2 ng/night) compared to CSS and normal groups.

Conclusions:

  • U-GH measurement appears to be a useful indicator of subsequent growth rate in early pubertal boys with CSS.
  • U-GH may normalize earlier than provocative GH testing, especially with rising sex steroids.
  • U-GH values above 2.6 ng/night in CSS boys might warrant delaying provocative tests and observing growth.
Abstract

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