ESPE Abstracts

Objectives: Convenience of growth hormone (GH) use can lead to good adherence and result in satisfactory treatment outcomes. The aim of this study is to compare the long-term efficacy of weekly GH with daily GH in children with GH deficiency (GHD).

Methods: Clinical data of 966 GHD children (773 treated with daily GH and 193 treated with weekly GH) were obtained from the “LG Growth Study”, which is an observational Korean multicenter registry for GH treatment. Anthropometric data at baseline and every 12 months follow-up were collected; gender, chronologic age, height, weight, body mass index, bone age, serum IGF-I and IGFBP3. Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. The t-test was used to compere the difference of between two groups at each time point and P-value under 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: At baseline, chronological age, mid-parental height SDS, and frequency of pubertal boys in weekly GH group were older, shorter, and higher compared to those of daily GH group (7.46 ± 2.89 vs 8.46 ± 3.44, p < 0.001; -0.88 ± 0.73 vs -1.02 ± 0.84, P= 0.044; 16.9% vs 34.0%, P= 0.006, respectively). However, baseline height SDS, BMI SDS, bone age delay, and IGF-I SDS were similar between the two groups. Height velocity during the first 12 months and changes in height SDS at 12 months were higher in daily GH group (9.06±1.72 vs 8.67±1.98, P= 0.028 and 0.78±0.39 vs 0.61±0.41, p < 0.001, respectively). Height SDS at 24 months and 48 months were similar between two groups (-1.60 ± 0.79 vs -1.75 ± 0.82, P= 0.088 and -1.27 ± 0.93 vs -1.50 ± 1.28, P= 0.194, respectively). In LMM analysis, the overall height SDS and height velocity for 48 months follow-up were similar. The percentage of maintaining GH at 48 months was higher in weekly GH group (22.7% vs 36.3%).

Conclusion: This study showed better adherence and comparable long-term efficacy of weekly GH in Korean GHD children.