88 FREQUENCY OF NEUROSECRETORY DYSFUNCTION (NSD) IN REHOVOT, ISRAEL

111 children with heights below 2.5 SD fcr age (Tanner) were identified by screening of 7500 children, 6-14 years of age, in the Rehovot region. The total population of this age group is 40,000 in the area studied. The 111 children of short stature (ss) included: 8 skeletal disease, 2 Down Syndrome, 4 Thalassemia, 4 Turner, 3 celiac, 4 classical growth hormon deficiency (CGHD), 4 intrauterine growth retardation, 4 systemic disease, and 78 without obvious underlying disease. In 35 of the 78 subjects the 24 h. integrated concentration of growth hormone (ICGH) was in the hypopituitary range (< 3.2 ng/ml) and were thus diagnosed as having Neurosecretory Dysfunction (NSD). A one-year growth response to somatropin (recombinant GH, BioTropin, Bio-Technology General, Israel) of NSD patients, 19 of whom remained prepubertal throughout the study, was compared to CGHD patients. The response of both groups was similar, as summarized below: The frequency of NSD patients (45%) among ss without underlying pathology in the Rehovot region was consistent with that found in NSD diagnosed patients referred from other Israeli centers (35/78 and 99/221, respectively). The overall frequency of NSD in the population screened was 4/1000 children.