Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The idiopathic growth hormone (GH) deficiency is defined as the shortest height (-2 SD) without any further pathologies, including a detailed hormonal and radiological evaluation.

Objective and hypotheses: The evaluation of the efficiency of treatment with somatropin in children with idiopathic gh deficiency in Albania.

Methods: The study is based on the survey of 50 children of different ages, diagnosed with idiopathic GH deficiency by the pediatric endocrinology department of “Mother Theresa” University Hospital Center, excluding those children diagnosed with Turner Syndrome, chronic renal disease, GH resistance, SGA and IUGR. We evaluated the efficiency of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd-year treatment with somatropin, and measured the height (in cm/SD), the bone age, the values of GH and IGF-1, while using the Tanner-Whitehouse and Bayley-Pinneau method for the forecast of the height.

Results: The study involved 50 children, 43 male (86%) and 7 female (14%), who have showed up at the pediatrics ward between 2001- 2009. The median period of the treatment given was 4.6 years (3-10 yrs). The height at the moment the patients were first diagnosed was 118.3 ±13.1cm; after the 1st year of treatment with somatropin, the stature reached 129.7 ± 12.6 cm; after the 2nd year 137.8 ±12.3 cm and after the 3rd year, the height reached 144.9 ±12 cm. Growth velocity in the 1st year of the treatment was 11.4 ± 2.8cm/y, in the 2nd year it was 8.14 ± 2.13cm/y, while after 3 years of the treatment’s initiation it reached 26.74 ±5.4cm/y. The patients appeared to have a differentiation in height based on the Standard Deviation (SD) -4.6 SD ±1.2. The first year of the treatment saw an improvement in the patients’ statures, with a SD of -3.4 ± 1.3 and it was found the most beneficial.

Conclusions: The study found that the first year of the treatment was the most beneficial for the patients’height growth, with the GH treatment not resulting in any major side effects.