title: Adult height in patients treated for isolated growth hormone deficiency: role of birth weight.
abstract: To evaluate the effect of growth hormone (GH) administration on adult height (AH) in two groups of isolated GH-deficient (IGHD) children born either small (birth weight below -2 SD) or appropriate (birth weight above -2 SD) for gestational age (GA). Out of 35 prepubertal IGHD children, 14 small for GA (SGA, group A) and 21 appropriate for GA (AGA, group B) were examined. All patients received continuous GH treatment at a median dose of 0.028 mg/kg/day (range 0.023-0.032) in group A and 0.024 (range 0.023-0.028) in group B. GH treatment was administered for a period of 67.0 months (range 42.37-96.05) in group A and 54.31 months (range 47.14-69.31) in group B. All children were measured using a Harpenden stadiometer every 6 months until they reached AH (growth velocity <1 cm/year). The patients underwent a retesting a few months after stopping GH therapy. A significant difference was found between group A and B as expected for birth weight SD, -2.70 (range -2.87 to -2.29) and -0.73 (range -1.30 to 0.14) respectively (p < 0.000001) and interestingly also for body mass index SDS (BMI SDS) at retesting, 0.08 (range 0.30 to -1.51) and 0.61 (range 0.73 to -1.10) respectively (p < 0.04). We observed no significant differences between groups A and B in height (expressed as the SDS for chronological age, height SDS) at diagnosis (p = 0.75), height SDS at start of puberty (p = 0.51), height SDS at retesting (p = 0.50), target height SDS (TH SDS) (p = 0.47), AH SDS (p = 0.92), corrected height SDS (height SDS - TH SDS) (p = 0.60), BMI SDS at diagnosis (p = 0.25), GH dosage (p = 0.34) and therapy duration (p = 0.52). GH treatment with a standard dose in short IGHD children leads to a normalization of AH without any significant difference between SGA and AGA patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Pavia, Piazzale C. Golgi 2, IT-27100 Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Cesare Merlone
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bozzola
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Castelnovi
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chiabotto
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Costante
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Sanctis
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tinelli
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bozzola
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D001827:Body Height / Q000187:drug effects*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000172:deficiency*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D008297:Male; D011627:Puberty; D043202:Steroid Metabolism, Inborn Errors / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D013006:Growth Hormone