Sleep Patterns in Growth Hormone Deficient Children and Age-Matched Controls: Developmental Considerations

Ten patients with isolated growth hormone (GH) deficiency and 13 age-matched normal controls were studied. All patients were below the 3rd percentile in height and weight. All but 1 subject were studied for 3 or 4 consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory which included monitoring of the EEG, EOG, EMG, and EKG. GH samples were taken during sleep in 6 of the 10 patients. There were no significant differences in the slow-wave sleep (SWS) parameter between the 2 groups, nor was there any difference when all growth hormone patients were compared to controls. The age group comparisons for the percent of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep parameter revealed a significant difference between GH and controls for the youngest group only (p