MANAGEMENT OF ENDOCRINE DISEASE: Growth and growth hormone therapy in short children born preterm.
Approximately 15 million babies are born preterm across the world every year, with less than 37 completed weeks of gestation. Survival rates increased during the last decades with the improvement of neonatal care. With premature birth, babies are deprived of the intense intrauterine growth phase, and postnatal growth failure might occur. Some children born prematurely will remain short at later ages and adult life. The risk of short stature increases if the child is also born small for gestational age. In this review, the effects of being born preterm on childhood growth and adult height and the hormonal abnormalities possibly associated with growth restriction are discussed, followed by a review of current information on growth hormone treatment for those who remain with short stature during infancy and childhood.
Department of PediatricsEndocrine Division (SEMPR), Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.
Margaret Cristina da Silva
MCDS
Boguszewski
Department of PediatricsEndocrine Division (SEMPR), Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.
Adriane de Andre
AA
Cardoso-Demartini
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000502:physiology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000254:growth & development*; D011247:Pregnancy; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
D019382:Human Growth Hormone