Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Hypovitaminosis D is prevalent in children with growth hormone deficiency. Infants and young children are special risk groups of vitamin D deficiency due to their rapid growth with high nutritional requirements. The lack of early diagnosis and adequate treatment have adverse outcomes. It impairs particularly bone maturation and increases metabolic risk. The purpose of our study is to assess the vitamin D status of children followed up for GHD in the Endocrinology-Diabetology and Nutrition department of Mohamed VI University Hospital Center.

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

Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 11.6 years with a sex ratio (M/F) of 1.57. The average standard deviation score was 4.3 SD for height and 2.9 SD for weight. The median difference in bone age from chronological age was 4.2 years. The insulin growth factor 1 (IGF1) was low related to pubertal stage in 77,8 % of patients. Bone X-rays were performed in all patients and did not reveal any abnormalities. The diagnosis of total GHD was assessed in 66.7% of patients and partial GHD in 33.3% of the cases. The mean vitamin D value was around 22,3 ng/ml, and ranged between 10–30 ng/ml in 66.7 % of the patients. It was less than 10 ng/ml in 11.1%, and greater than 30 ng/ml in 22.2% of the cases. Patients with total GH deficiency had a significantly lower vitamin D levels (P=0.036). The reminder of phosphocalcic laboratory tests was normal in all patients.

Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency increases metabolic risk and skeletal consequences of growth hormone and IGF1 deficiency. The strong link between vitamin D and IGF1 levels requires vitamin D replacement therapy in order to improve their height growth velocities. The results of our study highlighted the value of vitamin D dosing in children with GHD, in order to detect any deficiency which may affect the growth of children with GHD.