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A Partial Transient Effect of Short-Term Growth Hormone (GH) Treatment in Short non-GH Deficient Prepubertal Children

This study reports the growth of 11 short non-GH deficient children before, during short-term GH therapy for 1 year and for 2 years after the cessation of treatment. The mean growth velocity increased significantly (p < 0.0001) from the pretreatment mean of 4.6 (SD = 0.95) cm/year to 8.4 (SD = 1.1) cm/year after 1 year of GH treatment without accelerated advancement of skeletal maturation. The serum IGF-1 levels also increased significantly with treatment. In nine children who remained prepubertal followed for one year after GH treatment, the mean growth velocity increased from 4.5 (SD = 0.69) cm/year before treatment to 8.7 (SD = 1.28) cm/year after 1 year of GH treatment (p < 0.0001). After stopping GH treatment, the growth velocity decreased significantly (p < 0.001) to 2.4 (SD = 0.68) cm/year during the first year of follow-up. In the six prepubertal children followed up for 2 years after treatment, the mean growth velocity was 4.1 (SD = 1.04) cm/year which was not significantly different from the pretreatment growth velocity. The significant decrease in growth velocity during the first post-treatment year could not be explained by the usual fall of growth velocity with increasing age in prepubertal children. Our results indicate that the effect of one year of GH treatment on height gain is partly transient and cast doubt on the efficacy of short-term GH therapy in short non-GH deficient patients.