CONCLUSIONS Growth hormone therapy in children with idiopathic short stature seems to be effective in partially reducing the deficit in height as adults , although the magnitude of effectiveness is on average less than that achieved in other conditions for which growth hormone is licensed .
OBJECTIVE To systematic ally determine the impact of growth hormone therapy on adult height of children with idiopathic short stature .
Final height of short normal children treated with growth hormone
BACKGROUND Short-term studies have demonstrated acceleration of growth rate following administration of biosynthetic human growth hormone ( r-hGH ) to short normal children . We describe the effect of such treatment on final height . METHODS This was an open study of consecutive referrals to a growth disorder clinic from which 16 short children ( height st and ard deviation score [ SDS ] -2.17 [ range -1.8 to -3.3 ] ; height velocity SDS -0.44 [ 0.33 ] ; peak serum GH response to stimulation 27.9 mU/L [ 9.2 ] were treated with r-hGH , and 7 short children who declined treatment ( height SDS -2.34 [ 0.61 ] ; height velocity SDS -0.36 [ 0.28 ] ; peak serum GH response 28.2 mU/L [ 6.8 ] ) acted as an observation group .  Subcutaneous r-hGH dose ranged between 12.2 and 21.0 U/m2 per week ( 0.02 - 0.04 mg/kg per day ) for the first 2 years of treatment and 20 U/m2 per week thereafter , 3 untreated children were lost to long-term follow-up . FINDINGS r-hGH significantly increased the difference in final height compared with pretreatment predicted height ( + 0.42 SDS [ 0.79 ] , p = 0.03 ) but this change was not significantly greater than that of the observation group ( + 0.16 SDS [ 0.20 ] ) . Treatment had no effect on the timing of puberty . Boys progressed slightly faster through puberty , associated with an acceleration in bone-age maturation . No untoward effects on glucose metabolism were observed . Long-term therapy did not alter body-fat distribution or blood pressure . INTERPRETATION Long-term therapy in this group of children appears safe but the small increment in final height , approximately 2.8 cm in boys and 2.5 cm in girls , does not justify the widespread use of r-hGH for short normal children
CONCLUSIONS Growth hormone therapy in children with idiopathic short stature seems to be effective in partially reducing the deficit in height as adults , although the magnitude of effectiveness is on average less than that achieved in other conditions for which growth hormone is licensed .
OBJECTIVE To systematic ally determine the impact of growth hormone therapy on adult height of children with idiopathic short stature .