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Thyroid function in children with short stature accompanied by isolated pituitary hypoplasia

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Abstract

Purpose

Few studies have focused on thyroid function in children with isolated pituitary hypoplasia (IPH). The purpose of this study was to investigate thyroid function in children with short stature accompanied by IPH and evaluate the values of thyroid function for the diagnosis of IPH.

Methods

This was a retrospective observational study. A total of 100 children with short stature accompanied by IPH were enrolled. Among them, 68 children presenting with isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) were chosen as the IPH group. Sixty-eight age-matched and sex-matched IGHD children without pituitary abnormalities were chosen as the control group. Clinical, hormonal, and imaging parameters were analyzed. The diagnostic value of thyroid function for IGHD children with IPH was evaluated.

Results

Children in the IPH group had significantly lower height standard deviation score (HSDS), HSDS-target height standard deviation score (THSDS), free thyroxine (FT4), insulin-like growth factor-1 standard deviation score (IGF-1SDS), and pituitary height than the control subjects (p = 0.027, p = 0.033, p < 0.001, p = 0.03, and p < 0.001, respectively). The value of the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.701 (95% CI 0.614–0.788, p < 0.001) when the cut-off value for FT4 was ≤ 16.43 pmol/L and the sensitivity and specificity were 72.1 and 61.8%, respectively. FT4 levels were positively correlated with FT3, GH peak, and IGF-1 SDS levels in all children with short stature accompanied by IPH (p < 0.001, p = 0.009, and p = 0.01, respectively).

Conclusion

IGHD children with IPH had lower FT4 levels than IGHD children without pituitary abnormalities. FT4 levels may have diagnostic value for IGHD children with IPH.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the children and their parents who were involved in this study.

Funding

This study was supported by the Science and Technology Development Program of Linyi City (202020003) and Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2020MH102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Linyi People’s Hospital, NO. 27, Eastern Jiefang Road, Linyi, 276003, Shandong Province, China

    Yanyan Hu, Liping Zhu, Qiang Liu, Yongzhen Xue, Xuemei Sun & Guimei Li

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250021, Shandong Province, China

    Guimei Li

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  1. Yanyan Hu
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  2. Liping Zhu
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  3. Qiang Liu
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Contributions

Dr. Yanyan Hu was responsible for the study execution, patient screening and enrolment, data collection and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. Prof. Xuemei Sun conceived and designed the study, supervised the execution of the study, and performed the final data analyses. Dr. Liping Zhu and Qiang Liu participated in patient screening and enrolment, and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. Dr. Yongzhen Xue contributed significantly to the revision of the manuscript. Prof. Guimei Li contributed significantly to the revision of the manuscript and provided funding for the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yanyan Hu, Xuemei Sun or Guimei Li.

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Ethical approval

All procedures performed involving human participants were approved by the Ethics Committee of Linyi People’s Hospital, Linyi, Shandong Province, China and in accordance with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Our study was approved by the Pediatric Department of Linyi People’s Hospital.

Informed consent

All participants provided an informed consent before participating in the study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Yanyan Hu, Xuemei Sun and Guimei Li contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-corresponding authors.

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Hu, Y., Zhu, L., Liu, Q. et al. Thyroid function in children with short stature accompanied by isolated pituitary hypoplasia. Hormones 20, 707–713 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-021-00323-0

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