Impact of GH Measurements on GHD Diagnosis

Comparative Study of Human Growth Hormone Measurements: Impact on Clinical Interpretation

Human growth hormone (hGH) provocation test is an essential tool to assess growth hormone deficiency in children and young adults. It is important to have a robust and reliable method to determine the hGH peak of stimulation. This work aimed to compare three common automated immunoassays for hGH measurements and to assess whether there are still result-related differences influencing clinical decision.

The investigators analysed GH provocative test of 41 young patients (median age: 12 years) from Pediatric Department of Montpellier Hospital, (26 boys and 15 girls), admitted for follow-up or for suspicion of growth hormone deficiency. Serum GH of peak concentrations were compared using three automated immunoanalyses : COBAS 8000 e602 (ROCHE Diagnostics), IDS-iSYS (IDS immunodiagnostic systems) and Liaison XL (Diasorin S.A.).

Inclusion criteria:

• Age<18 years, admitted for suspicion (short stature or growth retardation) or follow-up of GHD in pre-and pubertal age
• patients undergoing insulin-induced hypoglycaemia stimulation test also called insulin tolerance test (ITT)
• Exclusion criteria:
• Age > 18 years
• Patients undergoing different provocation tests