title: Methodological aspects of short-term knemometry in the assessment of exogenous glucocorticosteroid-induced growth suppression in children.
abstract: During recent years knemometry has been introduced for short-term assessment of the growth-suppressive effect of exogenous glucocorticosteroids in children. The aim of the present paper is to review methodological aspects of short-term knemometry used for this purpose. Knemometry has proven a highly accurate and reproducible method for assessment of short-term growth suppression in populations of children treated with exogenous glucocorticosteroids. Randomized, double-blind crossover and parallel designs applying consistent measurement intervals can be used. Confounding influences on the growth results from possible inter-group differences in spontaneous growth velocities are reduced in the crossover design. Glucocorticosteroid-induced knemometric growth suppression seems to reflect suppressive effects on soft tissue and bone components in the lower leg. In children treated with systemic glucocorticosteroids a shortening of the lower leg, which may be due to a reduction of the water content in the soft tissue, may confound the growth assessment. Suppressed short-term growth rates should be considered to have a poor correlation with long-term growth, though prospectively planned, controlled studies of the relation are needed in glucocorticosteroid-treated children.
authors.affiliation: Randers Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: O D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Wolthers
mesh_terms: D001846:Bone Development / Q000187:drug effects; D002648:Child; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006128:Growth / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids