[Somatotropin secretion during sleep. Application to partial somatotropin deficiency in the child].

The authors studied somatotropic secretion during sleep in 122 children who had a backward growth of at last 2 standard deviations from the mean growth. Diurnal pharmacological tests showed 73 normal responses, 49 intermediate or dissociated responses orienting toward a partial deficit of STH secretion. The study of sleep secretion shows, among normal children, a secretory response superior to those pharmacological tests with a late secretory response in 20% of cases. In the group of children suspected of having a partial deficit, the study of sleep secretion permits to discover 27 children presenting a normal secretion, and to isolate a group of real partial deficit (22 children) who should have a treatment with the human growth hormone.