American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 25, 1179-1183, Copyright © 1972 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Serum growth hormone and growth activity in children and adolescents with present or past malnutrition

¹ From the Department of Medicine (Hospital Jose Joaquin Aguirre) and the Department of Pediatrics (Hospital Roberto del Rio), Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

Growth hormone secretion was measured under insulin or arginine stimulation in normal children and adolescents and in 11 children with short stature and with a present or past history of malnutrition. As a group, the patients had higher mean SGH values than the controls, although the difference was not statistically significant. Other parameters of growth activity like urinary hydroxyproline excretion and serum phosphate were also normal. Other studies including thyroid radioiodine uptake and urinary response of 17 hydroxycorticosteroids and 17 ketosteroids to the administration of metyrapone and ACTH were within the acceptable normal limits.

It is concluded that in these patients with shortness of stature and a present or past malnutrition, pituitary function and specifically HGH secretion are normal, or reverted to normal if there was any decrease in function in earlier stages. The possibility of determining simultaneously HGH secretion and the sulfation factor might be valuable in this condition.