Abstract

Objective: To identify factors affecting adult height in Japanese patients with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency (GHD), who received growth hormone (GH) treatment during childhood.

Methods: A retrospective pharmaco-epidemiological study of the effect of GH treatment on adult height standard deviation scores (SDS) was conducted in 374 Japanese patients with idiopathic GHD. During childhood, GH (0.146±0.023 mg/kg/week) was administered for a mean of 6.4±2.6 years.

Results: The mean adult height was 160.6±6.3 cm (–1.75 SD; n=232) in boys and 146.9±7.3 cm (–2.20 SD; n=158) in girls after GH therapy. The mean increases in height SDS in boys and girls with severe GHD were 2.13 SD and 1.66 SD, respectively (p<0.05). These increases were greater than those observed in patients with moderate GHD and mild GHD. The mean adult height of male patients with GHD and gonadotropin deficiency (166.8 cm) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of isolated GHD patients who were either receiving (159.1 cm) or not receiving (160.5 cm) gonadal suppression therapy. The mean adult heights of female patients were 149.6, 146.7, and 146.9 cm, respectively, and these values did not significantly differ.

Conclusion: Linear multiple regression analyses of Japanese patients with severe GHD (n=61) revealed three independent variables that influenced adult height: gonadotropin deficiency, initial height SDS and height velocity during the first year after the initiation of GH therapy.