Exercise screening of short children for growth hormone deficiency in a family practice setting.

Exercise stimulation tests for growth hormone were performed in two groups of children: 163 patients aged 4 to 20 years had growth hormone measured before and after exercise, and 28 children had growth hormone checked only after excercise. Of 180 exercise stimulation tests performed in the first group, 124 showed an adequate growth hormone response as did 23 of 29 such tests in the second group. Careful instruction and preparation of patients for exercise screening of growth hormone leads to an accuracy for this test of nearly 80 percent.