GH therapy can increase short-term growth and improve ( near ) final height .
Increases in height are such that treated individuals remain relatively short when compared with peers of normal stature .
BACKGROUND Idiopathic short stature ( ISS ) refers to children who are very short compared with their peers for unknown or hereditary reasons .
Recombinant human growth hormone ( GH ) has been used to increase growth and final height in children with ISS .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of recombinant human GH on short-term growth and final height in children with ISS .
Quality of life and self-esteem in children treated for idiopathic short stature.
OBJECTIVE Changes in health-related quality of life ( HRQOL ) and self-esteem were studied in children with idiopathic short stature ( ISS ) participating in a study on the effect of growth hormone treatment .  STUDY DESIGN Prepubertal children ( n = 36 ) with ISS were r and omly assigned to a treatment or control group .  Children with ISS , their parents , and the pediatrician completed  HRQOL and self-esteem question naires 3 times in 2 years . RESULTS At the start , children with ISS did not have lower scores than the norm population , except for social functioning HRQOL . The pediatrician reported an improvement of HRQOL in the treatment group , the parents reported no change , and the children in the treatment group reported the same , or sometimes even worse , HRQOL or self-esteem than the control group . Changes related to the child 's satisfaction with height and hardly to growth itself . CONCLUSION The assumption that growth hormone treatment improves HRQOL in children with ISS could not be supported in this study
GH therapy can increase short-term growth and improve ( near ) final height .
Increases in height are such that treated individuals remain relatively short when compared with peers of normal stature .
BACKGROUND Idiopathic short stature ( ISS ) refers to children who are very short compared with their peers for unknown or hereditary reasons .
Recombinant human growth hormone ( GH ) has been used to increase growth and final height in children with ISS .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of recombinant human GH on short-term growth and final height in children with ISS .