title: Catch-up growth: definition, mechanisms, and models.
abstract: Catch-up growth is characterized by height velocity above the limits of normal for age for at least 1 year after a transient period of growth inhibition; it can be complete or incomplete. Although catch-up growth can be expressed in terms of height velocity, the change in height standard deviation score is more appropriate. Catch-up growth is difficult to distinguish from the pubertal growth spurt. The increased growth rate following intrauterine growth retardation is usually called catch-up growth, although it does not meet all the criteria. It is not possible to know whether catch-up growth is complete for an individual child, but if final height is within the target range, it can be considered that catch-up growth has probably been complete. In groups of patients, complete catch-up growth is expected to result in a mean final height close to the mean target height. Increased growth velocity due to growth hormone (GH) therapy is accurately called catch-up growth in children with GH deficiency but should be called growth enhancement in children with other disorders. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the mechanism of catch-up growth: the neuroendocrine hypothesis, for which no persuasive experimental data have been produced, and the growth plate hypothesis, which cannot explain the increased growth rate observed in human catch-up growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. J.M.Wit@lumc.nl
authors.forename: Jan-Maarten
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wit
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Boersma
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006128:Growth; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006132:Growth Plate / Q000502:physiology; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000172:deficiency; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008954:Models, Biological; D009490:Neurosecretory Systems / Q000502:physiology; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D019382:Human Growth Hormone