[Results of treatment with human growth hormone in children with pituitary insufficiency under 7 years of age. Study of 26 cases].

Twenty-six children below age 7 years with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency have been treated with hGH for 2 years. Bone ages were inferior to 3 years and growth retardation averaged 3.9 +/- 0.9 standard deviation (SD) below the population mean. Results were compared to those obtained in a control group of 29 prepubertal patients, aged more than 7 years, and treated with hGH according to the same protocol. The mean height gains during the first and second year of treatment were respectively 8.4 +/- 1.8 cm and 6.6 +/- 1.5 cm. These values are significantly higher than those obtained in the group of older children. However within 2 years of treatment the initial catch-up in height of 0.9 +/- 0.6 DS was not different. In conclusion, we did not observe a better catch up growth in children before 7 years of age than in older prepubertal children, in spite of using higher doses of hGH.