ESPE Abstracts

Background/Aims: It is known that growth hormone regulated metabolic processes, including lipid metabolism and the amount of adipose tissue. The purpose was to study metabolic rates at rest in children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and their relationship with lipid and hormone levels.

Objective: To analyse the body composition and resting metabolic rate (RMR) among prepubertal children with GHD

Patients and Methods: The 20 children with GHD (11 boys, 9 girls, Tanner stage 1; aged 5-10 yr, median 6,75 years) were observed before growth hormone treatment. We investigated the lipid profile, IGF-1 level, evaluated the body composition using the Tanita (Japan) body composition analyzer BC-418MA and determined the RMR using the indirect calorimetry method in all children. We used the RMR indicator adjusted for the lean mass (LM) - RMR/LM and coefficient of variation (CV)

Results: Among 20 patients with GHD all showed increased metabolism. We observed high resting metabolic rate: RMR 1016 kkal [961; 1025], RMR/LM 68.1 kcal/kg [56; 75], increase coefficient of variation (CV) 23.8% [8.5, 32.4]. Body fat percentage was 19% [15.6; 19,8]. Correlation analysis revealed average positive correlation between the amount of SDS BMI and RMR/LM (r = 0.54, P <0.05). The correlation analysis of the RMR/LM did not reveal its connection with blood lipid and IGF-1 levels.

Conclusions: Prepubertal patients with growth hormone deficiency in our study revealed increased resting metabolic rate, may be associated with low lean mass. No correlation between the metabolic rate, lipid level and IGF-1 were observed.