COMBINED TREATMENT WITH GROWTH-HORMONE AND LUTEINIZING-HORMONE-RELEASING HORMONE-ANALOG (LHRHA) OF PUBERTAL CHILDREN WITH FAMILIAL SHORT STATURE

We evaluated the 12 month growth of 18 pubertal children with familial short stature randomly assigned to clinical follow-up (group A), GH treatment alone (group B) and GH+LHRH analogue (LHRHa) treatment (group C). Height velocity increased significantly compared to baseline in groups A and B (4.7+/-0.4 vs 6.6+/-0.6 and 4.4+/-0.3 vs 8+/-1. respectively), but not in C (5+/-0.5 vs 6.5+/-0.4). Moreover in group B height and height prognosis standard deviation score SDS also were higher (-2.2+/-0.2 vs -1.7+/-0.2 and 1.8+/-0.3 vs 1+/-0.2, respectively). Comparisons among the groups showed a significant increase in group B vs the other groups of height velocity SDS (3.9+/-1.3 vs 0.4+1 and 0.3+/-0.7) and of height prognosis SDS (-1+/-0.2 vs -2.4+/-0.3 and -2.4+/-0.3). in conclusion, after one-year treatment, GH seems to be more effective in stimulating growth than GH+/-LHRHa, even if studies of longer duration and/or follow-up are needed.