Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Growth Hormone deficiency (GHD) is a rare etiology of short stature. The lack of early diagnosis and adequate treatment have adverse consequences, especially the small final height with the resulting psychological impact. The aim of this study is to identify some of the predictive factors influencing stature gain during the first year of GH therapy.

Matherials and methods: This is a retrospective and analytical study regarding 36 children with GHD, collected in the endocrinology department of Mohammed VI Hospital. The data were collected and processed using SPSS software V21.

Results: The prevalence of patients with GHD is 16.36% among 220 cases with short stature requiring exploration. The mean chronological age (CA) at the start of treatment was 11,6 years. Mean height Z-score at time of diagnosis was −4,3 SD. The delay of bone age (BA) over the chronological age was of 4,2 years on average. The mean therapeutic dose was 0.025 to 0.035 mg/kg/day. The average stature gain at the end of the first year of GH treatment was 10,5 cm. Correlation analysis showed that a change in height gain in the first year had a significant correlation with the age at the start of treatment (P<0.001), the severity of growth hormone deficiency (P=0,047) and the presence of multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies (P=0.18). No correlation was found between height gain and sex gender, body mass index, and abnormalities on pituitary magnetic resonance imaging.

Conclusion: Despite a very evocative clinical features, the diagnosis of GHD remains difficult and relatively late in some patients. The height gain is more important during the first year of GH therapy. The earlier the treatment is administrated, the better the results will be in case of a severe deficiency.