A 35-month cross-sectional observational study was conducted at an outpatient university hospital in Amman, Jordan. We obtained a comprehensive medical and laboratory evaluation for 134 short-statured children (64 boys and 70 girls, aged 4-16 years). Complete and partial growth hormone deficincy (GHD) were defined as peak forwth hormone (GH) response of 5 and 7 ng/ml [IRMA/ DiaSorin®], respectively in both clonidine stimulation and insulin tolerance tests. Serum IGF-I, IGFBP-3 and IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio were determined for all participants.

Inclusion Criteria:

• children presented to Jordan Univeristy Hospital (JUH) outpatient endocrinology clinic for the evaluation of short stature (SS)

Exclusion Criteria:

(i) their parents could not provide written consent for them; (ii) they were lost to follow up; (iii) they could not perform clonidine stimulation tests (CST) or insulin tolerance test (ITT) due to a medical contraindication (e.g. cardiac disorder, seizure disorder); (iv) they had received GH therapy in the past; (v) they were known to have pituitary diseases, hypothyroidism, hypogonadism or discovered to have panhypopituitarism or (vi) they have malnutrition, diabetes mellitus, liver disease, or other chronic illnesses.

192 children presented to JUH outpatient endocrinology clinic for the evaluation of short stature (SS). The target population of our study was male and female children, aged 4-16 years, with short stature.