ESPE Abstracts

Background: Treatment with GH in children born small for gestational age (SGA) increases height velocity (HV) but data on adult height (AH) are scarce.

Objective and hypotheses: To report AH in a group of SGA children treated with GH.

Method: This is a post-marketing longitudinal analysis of SGA children treated with GH and included in France in KIGS. Selection criteria were children followed at least one year and having reached AH based on chronological age (CA) in 2013 and HV as defined by a French scientific committee. Median values and 25^th; 75^th percentiles are shown.

Results: Out of 432 enrolled SGA patients, 73 children, including 34 (47%) boys, achieved AH and were included in the analyses. At birth, gestational age was 39 (37; 40) weeks and height SDS was −3.08 (−3.68; −2.74). Target height (TH) SDS was −1.08 (−1.64; −0.30). CA at start of GH treatment was 8 (6; 11) years: 21 (54%) girls were older than 9 years and 4 (12%) boys were older than 11 years. GH dose at start of treatment was 0.06 (0.04; 0.06) mg/kg per day. Median CA was 16 (14; 17) years in 2013. Height increased to −2.08 (−2.63; −1.79) SDS after one year and up to −1.73 (−2.27; −1.04) at time of GH withdrawal. AH SDS was −1.92 (−2.42; −1.30) overall 43 (59%) children had reached an AH >−2 SDS. Difference between height and TH at start of GH treatment was −1.74 (−2.68; −0.96) SDS when difference between AH and TH was −0.66 (−1.92; −0.02) SDS at final analysis. No new safety concerns were reported during follow-up.

Conclusion: In a group of children with severe growth retardation at birth, and treated with GH enabled an AH was slightly lower than the TH. Nearly 60% of the SGA children reached an AH >−2 SDS.

Conflict of interest: Author received honoraria from Pfizer.

Funding: This work was supported by Pfizer.