ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD) represents the most common hormone deficiency during childhood accounting for 3% of causes of short stature. Although growth hormone (GH) replacement therapy is available, several studies have shown a different response in terms of height. Therefore, some reports have tried to characterize predictive factors able to define growth gain during treatment.

Objective: Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible predictive factors of change in height SDS in GHD children after at least 2 years of GH therapy.

Results: Data from 77 normal weight children and adolescents with GHD (age: 12.1±2.7 years; Girls/Boys: 24/53) have been included in the study. A complete anthropometric measures (weight, height, BMI, target height, bone age) and biochemical factors (IGF-1, lipid profile, glucose metabolism) at baseline and at follow up were evaluated. A Spearman correlation between height SDS at follow up and the main variables of interest at baseline was performed. A significant difference between baseline and follow up measures was documented for the main anthropometric measures (weight, height, BMI). In addition, a significant increase of IGF-1 values was documented at follow-up. The height SDS at follow up was significantly related with target height, target height-SDS, height, height-SDS, weight, weight SDS; in addition a negatively correlation was documented with GH values obtained during GH stimulation test and IGF-1 values at baseline.

Conclusions: In this study we demonstrated that the main predictive factors of GH therapy are anthropometric measurements and changes in IGF-1 values during treatment. Therefore, both IGF-1 and anthropometric measurements, should be taken into account to provide optimal management of the patient with short stature and to predict therapeutic success.