Diminished 24 Hour Urinary Growth Hormone Excretion in Patients With Prader-Willi Syndrome

Short stature in Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) has been suggested to be due to growth hormone deficiency (GHD) (Bray, 1983). GHD has been documented in a small number of patients with PWS (Costeff et al, 1990), and a few children have been reported to respond well to growth hormone (hGH) treatment (Lee et al, 1987). Urinary growth hormone (U-GH) excretion reflects to some extent the endogeneous growth hormone (GH) production (Girard et al, 1990). Collection of urine samples is easy, can be done at home and is confortable for the patient. The aim of this study was to investigate whether u-GH excretion is altered in PWS.