TY - JOUR
T1 - Growth hormone treatment for short stature
AU - Van Vliet, G.
AU - Styne, Dennis M
AU - Kaplan, S. L.
AU - Grumbach, M. M.
PY - 1983
Y1 - 1983
N2 - Fifteen short but otherwise normal children, 4.3 to 15.5 years old, with heights >3 S.D. below the mean value for age, growth rates ≤5.0 cm per year, and normal serum levels of immunoreactive growth hormone in response to provocative stimuli (peak ≥10 ng per milliliter) were treated with intramuscular injections of pituitary growth hormone (0.1 U per kilogram) 3 times weekly for 6 months, as were 14 children with documented growth hormone deficiency. In all the latter children growth rate increased by more than 2.0 cm per year during treatment. In 6 of the 14 short normal children who remained prepubertal, growth rate also increased, by 2.2 to 4.2 cm per year during treatment; 4 of these children had normal base-line serum somatomedin C concentrations. In both short normal children and children with growth hormone deficiency, the increment in serum somatomedin C concentrations after 4 or 10 daily injections of growth hormone correlated with bone age but not with later growth or growth hormone levels. Among the short normal children, those who responded to growth hormone were younger and had a greater delay in bone age and a slower pretreatment growth rate than the nonresponders. These observations suggest that a dose of growth hormone comparable to that used for the treatment of hypopituitarism increases growth rate in some short normal children.
AB - Fifteen short but otherwise normal children, 4.3 to 15.5 years old, with heights >3 S.D. below the mean value for age, growth rates ≤5.0 cm per year, and normal serum levels of immunoreactive growth hormone in response to provocative stimuli (peak ≥10 ng per milliliter) were treated with intramuscular injections of pituitary growth hormone (0.1 U per kilogram) 3 times weekly for 6 months, as were 14 children with documented growth hormone deficiency. In all the latter children growth rate increased by more than 2.0 cm per year during treatment. In 6 of the 14 short normal children who remained prepubertal, growth rate also increased, by 2.2 to 4.2 cm per year during treatment; 4 of these children had normal base-line serum somatomedin C concentrations. In both short normal children and children with growth hormone deficiency, the increment in serum somatomedin C concentrations after 4 or 10 daily injections of growth hormone correlated with bone age but not with later growth or growth hormone levels. Among the short normal children, those who responded to growth hormone were younger and had a greater delay in bone age and a slower pretreatment growth rate than the nonresponders. These observations suggest that a dose of growth hormone comparable to that used for the treatment of hypopituitarism increases growth rate in some short normal children.
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M3 - Article
C2 - 6684729
AN - SCOPUS:0020512323
VL - 309
SP - 1016
EP - 1022
JO - New England Journal of Medicine
JF - New England Journal of Medicine
SN - 0028-4793
IS - 17
ER -