NYCTOHEMERAL SECRETION OF GROWTH HORMONE IN NORMAL CHILDREN OF SHORT STATURE AND IN CHILDREN WITH HYPOPITUITARISM AND INTRAUTERINE GROWTH RETARDATION
Publication
, Journal Article
HOWSE, PM; RAYNER, PHW; WILLIAMS, JW; RUDD, BT; BERTRANDE, PV; THOMPSON, CRS; JONES, LA
Published in: Clinical Endocrinology
A continuous blood sampling technique has been used to monitor human growth hormone (GH) during sleep in fourteen normal short children (age range 6.5‐15.0 years), twelve hypopituitary children (2.8‐17.3 years), three children with psychosocial GH deficiency (4.0‐13.0 years), and three children with intrauterine growth retardation (9.5‐11.3 years). The mean GH level of a 5 h sleep period (22.30‐03.30 hours) was used to represent the GH response to sleep. The GH response to insulin induced hypoglycaemia (IST) was also determined. In normal short children there was a significant relationship between 5 h mean GH levels and chronological age. The curve defining this relationship was similar to the third centile linear growth velocity curve. The 5 h mean GH levels of the hypopituitary and psycho‐social GH deficiency children were more than 2 SD below the age related mean established for normal short children. The children with intrauterine growth retardation demonstrated values which were more than 2 SD above the age related mean.The evaluation of serum growth hormone (GH) during sleep, has recently been used as a test of pituitary function in growth retarded children (Eastman & Lazarus, 1973; Wise ., 1975). Interpretation of the response is difficult because normal GH values during sleep have not been established.We have used a continuous blood sampling technique to define the range of nocturnal GH levels for normal short children. The sleep GH response of children with hypopituitarism, psychosocial GH deficiency and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) has been similarly investigated and is reported with reference to the range established for normal short children.
