ESPE Abstracts

Background: Recombinant GH (rGH) treatment is approved in many countries for treatment of short stature in a number of childhood diagnoses. rGH was first introduced in Kuwait in the 1990s. Since its introduction, there has been no reported data on the clinical profile of treated children. There is a huge gap in knowledge of use and response to Paediatric rGH therapy in Kuwait and the region.

Objective and hypotheses: The objective of this study is to report the clinical profile and response of children treated with rGH by the Endocrine Division at an academic centre in Kuwait.

Method: This study is a retrospective chart review of children treated regularly with rGH by the Pediatric Endocrine Clinic at Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital in Kuwait between December 2013 and December 2014.

Results: A total of 64 children were treated with rGH in the centre. Mean age at rGH initiation was 8.3 years (±3.0). There was no significant gender difference between treated children, males were 33 (47.6%) and females were 33(52.4%). The most common indications for therapy were in order; GH Deficiency GHD (49.1%), small for gestational age (SGA) (16.9%) and Turner syndrome (TS) and variants TS (11/9%). Pre-GH height S.D.s were −2.8 (±0.52), −2.5 (±0.53), and −2.8 (±0.70) for GHD, SGA, and TS respectively. Mean height S.D.s difference at 1st year of therapy were +0.55 S.D.s, +0.62 S.D.s, and +0.54 S.D.s respectively for GHD, SGA, and TS. 1-year significant response to therapy (≧0.5 S.D.s difference in height) was associated with younger age of rGH initiation (P-value=0.03).

Conclusion: The clinical profile of use of rGH in children in Kuwait was similar to other reported studies internationally. Similar to reported literature, younger age of initiation of therapy predicts significant response at 1 year follow-up. Such report will be enriched with investigating data at 2 years follow-up from multiple centres in the country.