Near normalization of adolescent height with growth hormone therapy in very short children without growth hormone deficiency.

Ten prepubertal children with stature at or below the 1st percentile for height and without growth hormone deficiency received 0.3 U recombinant growth hormone per kilogram daily for 2 years before puberty. Their growth velocity increased from 4 +/- 0.3 cm/yr before treatment to 10.7 +/- 0.6 and 8.8 +/- 0.6 cm, respectively, during the first and second years of treatment, and then remained at 5.7 +/- 0.7 cm the year after the end of growth hormone administration. This resulted in a near normalization of adolescent height. Bone maturation paralleled chronologic age, and therefore the expected final height of the children increased by approximately 10 cm. Administration of growth hormone induced a reversible hyperinsulinemia, with moderate and transient changes in glucose metabolism. A prospective, randomized study, including an untreated cohort, will be needed to confirm the effects on final height and to determine the magnitude of the response in familial short stature.