GROWTH-HORMONE TREATMENT INDUCES A DOSE-DEPENDENT CATCH-UP GROWTH IN SHORT CHILDREN BORN SMALL-FOR-GESTATIONAL-AGE - A SUMMARY OF 4 CLINICAL-TRIALS

In the present study, data from 230 short children born small for gest ational age, who were participating in four clinical trials, were pool ed and analysed. At the start of GH treatment, median age and height S DS were 5.3 years and -3.2 SDS, respectively. A dose-dependent increas e in height SDS was observed following 2 years of GH treatment: 1.1, 1 .7 and 2.5 SDS for the three GH treatment groups (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 IU/ kg/day, respectively), compared with an increase of 0.14 SDS in the co ntrol group. In a multiple regression analysis, four variables were fo und to correlate independently with the gain in height SDS following 2 years of GH treatment. These are given below in order of importance: gain in height SDS = 7.7 x dose of GH (IU/kg/day) -0.11 x age (years) -0.08 x parental-adjusted height SDS + 0.05 x birth length SDS (SD = 0 .5; r(2) = 0.64). At the end of the 2-year study period, a total of 48 %, 66% and 90% of patients in the groups given GH at 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 IU/kg/day, respectively, had a parental-adjusted height greater than - 1.0 SDS.