Priming Short Children with Sex Steroids prior to Growth Hormone Testing Decreases the Frequency of Divergent Results.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Diagnosing growth hormone (GH) deficiency (GHD) is challenging due to the low specificity of diagnostic tests, particularly in children during the prepubertal and early pubertal stages. Although sex steroid priming increases stimulated GH peak levels, its impact on spontaneous nocturnal GH values has not yet been reported. Priming may reduce discrepancies between spontaneous and stimulated GH testing, potentially improving diagnostic accuracy. We aimed to assess the impact of priming on combined spontaneous and stimulated GH testing and the occurence of divergent test results, as well as to evaluate short-term adverse events associated with priming.

Methods

This was a retrospective chart review of all 132 short children who underwent a nocturnal spontaneous GH s

SUBMITTER: Lennartsson O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12266696 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature