The Dosage Dependency of Growth and Maturity in Growth Hormone Deficiency Treated with Human Growth Hormone

Abstract

A group of 11 pre-pubertal growth hormone deficient patients were treated with human growth hormone over a period of 4 yr. In 6 of the patients the dosage was 4 IU 3 times/wk and in 5, 8 IU 3 times/wk. Changes in height demonstrated that the catch-up was significantly greater and of longer duration in the 2nd group. In spite of a more rapid increase of bone age in the 2nd group, the prognosis of final height had improved significantly at the end of the study period. A comparative study of the plasma concentrations of thyroxine TSH, gonadotropins and steroids, to determine if the greater velocity of bone maturity in the second group could be due to contamination of the preparation by other hypophyseal hormones, did not demonstrate significant differences between the groups.