Effects of short-term growth hormone therapy in short children without growth hormone deficiency

Evaluation of 24-hour endogenous growth hormone (GH) secretion was carried out in 62 children, aged 7-16 years, who did not have classic GH deficiency (GHD). The mean 24-hour GH concentration, determined at 20-minute intervals over 24 hours, was variable, ranging from 1.28 to 11.39 micrograms/l with a mean of 4.95 +/- 2.55 micrograms/l (+/- SD). There was a positive correlation between mean 24-hour GH concentration and plasma insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) values (r = 0.54; p less than 0.01). Recombinant human GH, 0.1 IU/kg/day was administered to 30 of the 62 children for 6 months followed by 6 months' observation without treatment. Thereafter, GH was administered at the same dose for a further 6 months to 16 children. The mean height velocities before, during, and after the first treatment period were 4.3 +/- 0.9, 7.3 +/- 1.9 and 4.9 +/- 2.0 cm/year (mean +/- SD), respectively. The height velocity during treatment was greater than pre- and post-treatment values (p less than 0.001). The height velocity increased again during the second treatment period to a mean of 8.5 +/- 2.0 cm/year (p less than 0.001). Nine other children were treated continuously in a similar manner for 1 year and their height velocity increased significantly from 4.1 +/- 1.4 to 6.0 +/- 1.9 cm/year (p less than 0.001). According to our criteria, 29 of the 39 children (74.4%) who were treated for 6-12 months showed a GH-dependent height increase during therapy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)