CLINICAL TRIAL
JOURNAL ARTICLE
MULTICENTER STUDY
RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL
RESEARCH SUPPORT, NON-U.S. GOV'T
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Early, discontinuous, high dose growth hormone treatment to normalize height and weight of short children born small for gestational age: results over 6 years.

Most children born small for gestational age (SGA) normalize their size through spontaneous catch-up growth within the first 2 yr after birth. Some SGA children fail to do so and maintain an abnormally short stature throughout childhood. We have previously reported that high dose GH treatment (66 or 100 microg/kg x day s.c. over 2 yr; age at start, 2-8 yr; n = 38) induces pronounced catch-up growth in short children born SGA, thereby normalizing their height and weight in childhood. Here, we report on the further prepubertal growth course of these children over the first 4 yr after withdrawal of early, high dose GH treatment. Of the 38 treated children, none developed precocious puberty, and 22 remained prepubertal. Mean age of the latter at start of GH was 4.4 yr, height was -3.7 SD score, and height after adjustment for midparental height was -2.9 SD score. Height increased by an average of 2.5 SD during the 2 yr of GH treatment and decreased by 0.4 and 0.3 SD, respectively, during the first and second year after GH withdrawal. Subsequently, when stature was not extremely short at the start (mean adjusted height SD score, -2.7; n = 13), no further GH treatment was given, and the adjusted height was stabilized around -1.0 SD score; when stature was very short at the start (mean adjusted height, -3.3 SD score; n = 9), a second course of GH treatment (66 microg/kg x day s.c.) was initiated either 2 yr (n = 5) or 3 yr (n = 4) after initial GH withdrawal. This second course was associated with renewed catch-up growth and also resulted in a mean adjusted height of -1.0 SD score. In each subgroup, the pattern of the weight course paralleled that of the height course; GH treatment was well tolerated. In conclusion, early, discontinuous, high dose GH treatment appears to be a safe and efficient option to normalize prepubertal height and weight in the majority of short SGA children. It remains to be examined whether the normalized stature will be maintained during pubertal development, either with or without further GH treatment.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app