Near adult height in prepubertal children treated with growth hormone: differences between definite growth hormone deficiency (dGHD), short stature unresponsive to stimulation tests (SUS) and idiopathic short stature (ISS)

Objective: To understand whether characterization into definite growth hormone deficiency (dGHD; peak GH <8 ug/L and identifiable genetic, functional or anatomical cause), short stature unresponsive to stimulation test (SUS; peak GH <8 ug/L but without any identifiable cause) or idiopathic short stature (ISS; peak GH ≥8) can predict the near adult height (NAH) of prepubertal children treated with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH). Study design: Search on the KIGS (Pfizer International Growth Database) observational data set revealed 3,939 children with treatment with rhGH started before puberty. Results: Data are reported in the Table. At multiple regression analysis, taking into account height SDS at GH start, birth weight, max GH peak at stimulation test, treatment duration, sex and rhGH dose, the increase in height was 0.13 SDS for SUS and 0.12 SDS for dGHD, compared to 0 SDS for ISS. Conclusions Children with SUS had almost the same response to rhGH compared to dGHD in terms of NAH, although they differ in baseline characteristics, such as birth weight, MPH, IGF-1 levels and BMI SDS.