Partial growth hormone deficiency in adults; should we be looking for it?
Authors
Shalet, Stephen MAffiliation
Department of Endocrinology, Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester M20 4BX, UK.Issue Date
2010-04-23
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Summary Quantitatively GH secretion exists as a continuum in states ranging from good health through to hypopituitarism. Currently GH replacement is considered only for adults designated as being severely GH deficient (GHD). In clinical practice the gold standard, on which the biochemical diagnosis of severe GHD is based, centres on the presence of two or more additional anterior pituitary hormone deficits. Cohorts of adults with partial GHD (GHI) have been reported with adverse body composition changes, dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance, altered cardiac performance and increased carotid intima-media thickness. The diagnosis of GHI in an individual patient, however, is extremely difficult because such patients rarely exhibit additional anterior pituitary hormone deficits and the levels of GH-dependent proteins, including IGF-I, are normal in the majority. Currently GH replacement therapy should only be considered in a patient characterised as GHI by dynamic GH testing in whom there is a plausible cause for hypopituitarism and in whom the IGF-I level is pathologically low.Citation
Partial growth hormone deficiency in adults; should we be looking for it? 2010: Clin EndocrinolJournal
Clinical EndocrinologyDOI
10.1111/j.1365-2265.2010.03809.xPubMed ID
20455893Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
1365-2265ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1111/j.1365-2265.2010.03809.x