TWO YEARS FOLLOW-UP OF GROWTH HORMONE (GH) THERAPY IN SHORT STATURE CHILDREN WITH REDUCED GH BIOACTIVITY.

Biologically inactive growth hormone (GH) due to genetic mutations is a rare cause of short stature, characterized by the lack of GH action despite its normal immunoreactivity. We studied 10 boys (aged 9.60±2.78 yr., 23.1±7.6 kg, BMI 15.35±1.92 kg/m2 and bone age 7.65±2.75 yr.) with short stature, reduced growth velocity (GV) and discordant GH responses to standard provocative tests. On the basis of the reduced GH bioactivity, demonstrated by Nb2 bioassay, all children were treated with GH (0.24 mg/kg/week). Aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of GH therapy in these children. All results are reported as the mean±SDS. Student’s t test for paired samples was used for comparison of data between before and after 12 and 24 months of therapy (* p<0.05).GH treatment significantly improves auxological and laboratory data of our patients such as treated GHD subjects. The positive effect obtained during the first year of therapy persists in the second year.