Guidelines on the diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency in children and adolescents

The central goal of the guidelines presented in this article is to identify clear inclusion criteria for the diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency in children and adolescents on the basis of the available evidence and consensus processes. These would help reduce the number of false-positive test results. Furthermore, recommendations for standardisation of testing and measurements are needed. The diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency in children and adolescents should only be made when, in addition to fulfilling the auxological, clinical, radiological and laboratory criteria, two pathological growth hormone stimulation tests are additionally available. Growth hormone stimulation tests should not be carried out in newborns and infants, but rather-basal measurement of IGFBP-3 and 3-4 basal growth hormone measurements should be taken. At this age, IGFBP-3 values <-2.0 SDS make a growth hormone deficiency likely. Magnetic resonance tomography of identified morphological changes can give clear indications about the presence of growth hormone deficiency.