Measurements of urinary growth hormone in the assessment of its secretory status.

A highly sensitive enzyme immunoassay was used to measure urinary growth hormone (GH) levels in 29 children and 32 adults with different levels of GH secretion. The 24-hour urinary GH excretion of seven children with complete GH deficiency was 1.90 +/- 1.55 ng/g Cr (mean +/- SD), of 10 normal but short children was 19.04 +/- 14.11 ng/g Cr, of 12 children with normal height was 14.57 +/- 5.53 ng/g Cr, of 11 adults of normal height was 4.46 +/- 4.47 ng/g Cr, and of six adults with acromegaly was 366.75 +/- 349.95 ng/g Cr. The nocturnal urinary GH excretion of seven children with complete GH deficiency was 2.27 +/- 1.22 ng/g Cr, of 10 normal but short children was 22.74 +/- 12.76 ng/g Cr, of 12 children of normal height was 22.40 +/- 11.86 ng/g Cr, of 26 adults of normal height was 7.14 +/- 5.86 ng/g Cr and of six adults with acromegaly was 338.70 +/- 309.12 ng/g Cr. There was no overlap in the urinary GH excretion, either 24-hour or nocturnal values, between children with complete GH deficiency and children without GH deficiency, or between adults with acromegaly and normal adults. These data indicate that urinary GH measurements can reflect the endogenous GH secretory status and may be a promising tool for the diagnosis of complete GH deficiency in children and acromegaly in adults.