Spontaneous Growth Hormone Secretion in Children With Normal and Abnormal Growth

We have previously described the use of spontaneous growth hormone (GH) release studies in evaluating poor growth in children (1, 2). A group of children was defined as having GH neurosecretory dysfunction if they had short stature, slow growth, delayed bone age, normal responses to provocative GH testing, low insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) levels, and abnormal 24-h GH secretory patterns (3). These children were found to respond well to GH replacement therapy, and therefore spontaneous GH studies have been used diagnostically in many centers.