Change in total body water as a predictive tool for growth hormone treatment response.

M.A.B. Ernst, M. Y. Simons, A.J.G.M. Gerver-Jansen, G. R. Zandwijken, L.J.I. Zimmermann, W.J.M. Gerver*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background/Aims: To investigate whether short-term changes in body composition as a result of growth hormone therapy could be used to predict its growth effect after 1 year in children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and children born small for gestational age (SGA). Methods: 88 GHD children and 99 SGA children who started treatment with recombinant human growth hormone were included. Total body water (TBW) and height were measured. After 1 year, patients were divided into adequate and inadequate responders. Results: In GHD and SGA children a sensitivity of 87 and 53%, respectively, and a specificity of 58 and 83%, respectively, were found. The positive predictive values for GHD and SGA children were 73 and 90%, respectively. The negative predictive values were 75 and 32%, respectively. Conclusion: Changes in body composition data measured by TBW are a valuable tool to correctly predict 75% of the GHD children and are only useful in SGA children when the change in TBW is above the cut-off value of 0.7 l/m(2).
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)18-23
Number of pages6
JournalHormone Research in Paediatrics
Volume78
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2012

Keywords

  • Body composition
  • Growth hormone therapy
  • Growth hormone deficiency
  • Small for gestational age children
  • FOR-GESTATIONAL-AGE
  • BONE-MINERAL DENSITY
  • ENERGY-EXPENDITURE
  • SHORT CHILDREN
  • GH DEFICIENCY
  • THERAPY

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