Relative usefulness of three growth hormone stimulation screening tests.

One hundred ninety-one children were tested by one of three screening procedures for growth hormone deficiency over a five-year period. Sleep screen yielded a 31.3% false-positive rate; levodopa administration alone yielded a 20.5% false-positive rate and levodopa in combination with propranolol yielded a 5.2% false-positive rate. These results support the view that the combined levodopa-propranolol hydrochloride screen test is superior to either the sleep or the levodopa screen tests in limiting the number of false-positive results and thus the need for further, more extensive testing.