Serum luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone and the response to luteinizing hormone-releasing factor in children and adolescents with isolated growth hormone deficiency.
Serum concentrations of LH and FSH were measured in 95 patients (62 males and 33 females) with presumed isolated GH deficiency [chronological age range, 5-17 yr; bone age (BA) range, 2-15.5 yr] before and after the iv administration of 100 micrograms LRF. The results were compared to those of patients of similar skeletal maturity, derived from a population of 136 children (79 males and 57 females) with constitutional short stature. Mean serum LH concentrations were similar in the GH-deficient and control patients of either sex within the age ranges studied. Mean basal FSH concentrations in males with GH deficiency were similar to the controls between BA 2 to less than 10 yr and more than 12 to 15.5 yr. The mean peak, peak minus basal, and integrated responses of LH concentrations after the iv administration of LRF were not significantly different in patients with GH deficiency from the responses in normal short children of similar ages. After LRF administration, GH-deficient males of BA between 2 and less than 10 yr had diminished FSH responses. The mean peak concentration was 1.9 +/- 0.2 ng/ml in GH-deficient males (n = 34) and 2.8 +/- 0.3 ng/ml (less than 0.05) in control males (n = 45). GH-deficient males of BA between 10-12 yr had slightly elevated mean peak and total integrated FSH concentrations; in GH-deficient patients (n = 15), these values were 2.7 +/- 0.2 ng/ml and 2.1 +/- 0.2 ng X min ml-1, respectively; and in controls (n = 18), they were 1.8 +/- 0.2 ng/ml (P less than 0.05) and 1.5 +/- 0.2 ng X min ml-1 (P less than 0.05). In the BA range from 4-8 yr, the mean peak response to LRF was diminished in GH-deficient females (n = 24; 4.0 +/- 0.4 ng/ml) compared to that in control females (n = 18; 6.0 +/- 0.9 ng/ml; P less than 0.05). In the BA range from more than 8 to 13 yr, the corresponding mean peak FSH concentration in GH-deficient females (n = 9) was 3.2 +/- 0.3 ng/ml; in control females (n = 39), it was 4.9 +/- 0.4 ng/ml (P less than 0.05). This study fails to confirm previous reports that LRF-evoked LH release is diminished in patients with isolated GH deficiency compared to that in normal short children of similar skeletal maturity. Small differences in group mean FSH concentrations were noted, but these findings are of limited clinical importance because an extensive degree of overlap of individual FSH concentrations was found in all comparisons between GH-deficient patients and normal children.
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000172:deficiency*; D006801:Humans; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors
D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone; D013006:Growth Hormone