Twenty-four-hour growth hormone profiles in pubertal girls with idiopathic scoliosis.

Spontaneous growth hormone (GH) secretion during a 24-hour period was analyzed in 16 girls with progressive adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and in 26 healthy controls. All the girls were in puberty. Episodic secretion of GH both during the day and night was found in all girls. Both AIS girls and controls in pubertal stages 3 and 4 showed an increase of measured GH compared with girls in pubertal stage 2. Among the girls in pubertal stage 2, more GH was secreted in the AIS group than in the controls. It is concluded that it is only in early puberty (stage 2) that girls with AIS have a higher endogenous secretion of GH than normal girls, which implies an earlier growth spurt in scoliotic girls.