The relationship between the response to growth hormone therapy and pre-treatment growth hormone secretory status.

In 35 children (22 M, 13 F) aged between 5.3 years and 10.3 years who received Somatrem therapy for 1 year there was a curvi-linear relationship between pretreatment GH sensory status (x) and response (y) (change in height velocity standard deviation score (SDS)) to therapy described by the equation y = A + B (e-Cx). A, B and C are constants. Dose of GH administered was found to be an important additional factor in determining response to therapy. This was confirmed by stepwise multiple regression which resulted in a correlation coefficient of 0.74. These data suggest that in the assessment of response to GH therapy, pretreatment height velocity and/or GH secretory status as well as dose and frequency of GH administration need to be taken into account.