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Assessment of serum IGF-I concentrations in the diagnosis of isolated childhood-onset GH deficiency: A proposal of the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (SIEDP/ISPED)

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Abstract

The diagnosis of GH deficiency (GHD) is based on the measurement of peak GH responses to pharmacological stimuli. Pharmacological stimuli, however, lack precision, accuracy, are not reproducible, are invasive, non-physiological and some may even be hazardous. Furthermore, different GH commercial assays used to measure GH in serum yield results that may differ considerably. In contrast to GH, IGF-I can be measured on a single, randomly-obtained blood sample. A review of the available data indicates that IGF-I measurement in the diagnosis of childhood-onset isolated GHD has a specificity of up to 100%, with a sensitivity ranging from about 70 to 90%. We suggest an algorithm in which circulating levels of IGF-I together with the evaluation of auxological data, such as growth rate and growth, may be used to assess the likelihood of GHD in pre-pubertal children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana, Ospedali “S. Chiara”, Via Roma 67, 56125, Pisa, Italia

    G. Federico & S. Bertelloni

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Parma, Parma

    M. E. Street

  3. Department of Pediatrics, IRCCS Gaslini, University of Genova, Genova

    M. Maghnie

  4. Department of Pediatics, University of Catania, Catania

    M. Caruso-Nicoletti

  5. Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Ospedale Regionale per le Microcitemie, Cagliari

    S. Loche

  6. Rina Balducci Center of Pediatric Endocrinology, Department of Public Health and Cell Biology, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy

    S. Cianfarani

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  1. G. Federico
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  2. M. E. Street
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  3. M. Maghnie
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  4. M. Caruso-Nicoletti
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  5. S. Loche
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  6. S. Bertelloni
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  7. S. Cianfarani
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Study Group on Physiopathology of growth processes

Council of ISPED

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Correspondence to G. Federico.

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Federico, G., Street, M.E., Maghnie, M. et al. Assessment of serum IGF-I concentrations in the diagnosis of isolated childhood-onset GH deficiency: A proposal of the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (SIEDP/ISPED). J Endocrinol Invest 29, 732–737 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03344184

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