Parentally-adjusted deficit of height as a prognostic factor of the effectiveness of growth hormone (GH) therapy in children with GH deficiency.

INTRODUCTION: Parental height is the most important identifiable factor influencing final height (FH) of children with growth hormone (GH) deficiency (GHD), treated with GH.

AIM: Assessment of FH of patients with GHD--classified into familial short stature (FSS) and non-familial short stature (non-FSS) according to parentally adjusted deficit of height.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The analysis comprised 101 patients (76 boys) with childhood-onset GHD. Final height was compared with patients' height before GH therapy, predicted adult height (PAH) and target height (TH).

RESULTS: Both GH peak in stimulating tests and height standard deviation score (SDS) before the therapy were significantly lower in non-FSS than in FSS. Target height was significantly lower in FSS than in non-FSS. Parentally-adjusted deficit of height was significantly more profound in non-FSS than in FSS. The prognosis of adult height was very similar in both groups of patients, being significantly worse in non-FSS than in FSS while corrected by TH. The absolute FH was similar in FSS and non-FSS, being, however, significantly lower in non-FSS than in FSS while corrected by TH. Improvement of height was significantly better in non-FSS than in FSS. In both groups, FH SDS was significantly better than height SDS before the therapy (H0SDS). In FSS group, PAH was similar to TH, moreover, FH corresponded to both PAH and TH. In non-FSS group FH was significantly higher than PAH, but both FH and PAH were significantly lower than TH.

CONCLUSIONS: 1) Growth hormone therapy was more effective in the patients with non-FSS than in those with FSS. 2) Parentally-adjusted deficit of height is an important prognostic factor of GH therapy effectiveness.