Stimulated growth hormone concentrations in obese pediatric patients with mild and severe insulin resistance: a pilot study.
BACKGROUND
GH excess predisposes to insulin resistance (IR). Obese patients have blunted responses to GH stimulation and decreased spontaneous secretion. GH secretion has not been studied in the context of IR.ŗŗ


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether varying degrees of IR effects GH dynamics in obese children.


METHODS
Patients (all > 10 y) were categorized according to gender and HOMA-IR to have either mild or severe IR. Twenty patients (10 female) with mild IR completed the study, as did 18 (9 female) in the severe group. Each patient underwent a GH stimulation test with GHRH. GH peak and area under the curve (AUC) were compared between the groups.


RESULTS
Severe IR females had higher peak GH (mean +/- SD, 9.5 +/- 4.4 vs. 5.8 +/- 3.7 ng/dl, p = 0.04) and trended toward higher GH AUC (356 +/- 207 vs. 221 +/- 128, p = 0.06) than mild IR females. There were no differences in GH response in males,


CONCLUSIONS
There may be a positive relationship between severity of IR and peak GH in obese girls.
Radack
Jill A
JA
Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
White
Perrin C
PC
Adams-Huet
Beverley
B
Oden
Jon D
JD
D000293:Adolescent; D019540:Area Under Curve; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood; D013007:Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3 / Q000097:blood; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood*; D018579:Patient Selection; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3; C075944:insulin-like growth factor binding protein, acid labile subunit; D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D013007:Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone