Abstract
The effect of growth hormone (GH) treatment was studied in children born small for gestational age, who were not deficient in GH. A total of 131 patients was studied after 12, 18 and 24 months of therapy. Inclusion criteria for the study were: chronological age (CA) between 3 and 8 years and prepubertal, gestational age (GA) not less than 35 weeks, birth length for GA below -2 SD (Maclean), height/ca below -2 SD (Sempé), height velocity (HV) for CA not above 0 SD (Sempé), and peak GH greater than 10 ng/ml after one provocation test. Children in the control group (group A) were untreted; those in the tretment groups were given GH at either 0.7 IU/kg/week (group B) or 1.4 IU/kg/week (group C).
Treatment was well accepted and tolerated. One child in group C developed osteochondritis after 9 months of treatment; GH treatment was not interrupted. HV was accelerated in both treated groups, with a significant differemce between groups B and C (p<0.001). BA was not accelerated in any group. In conclusion, GH treatment would appear to be useful in the treatment of short children born short for gestational age. There appears to be a dose-dependent effect of GH, although further, longterm studies are required to determine the optimum dose and duration of treatment.
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Chaussain, J., Landier, F. GROWTH HORMOSE TREATMENT OF SHORT CHILDREN BORN SMALL FOR CESTATIONAL AGE: A MULTICENTRE STUDY. Pediatr Res 33 (Suppl 5), S62 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199305001-00356
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199305001-00356