ABSTRACT
With the introduction of recombinant human growth hormone (GH), GH-deficient (GHD) children have been treated with larger doses and in a continuous fashion and have been followed to final height. Near-adult height data were reported by Blethen et al. (1) in 121 GHD children who were prepubertal at the beginning of treatment; GHwas administered at a dose of 0.3mg/Kg/wk, initially three times weekly and then daily. The adult height standard deviation (SD) score was found to be 0.7 1.2, which was significantly greater than the pretreatment height SD score, the predicted adult height SD score, and the height SD score at the start of puberty. The etiology of GH-deficiency and the presence or absence of spontaneous puberty did not affect the outcome. Adult height in this study was positively dependent on height and negatively dependent on age at the start of the study; statistically significant variables included duration of treatment with GH, age and height at the start of GH and the growth rate during the first year of therapy.
