Prediction of Response to Growth Hormone Treatment in Short Children Born Small for Gestational Age: Analysis of Data from KIGS (Pharmacia International Growth Database)

A model was developed that allows physicians to individualize GH treatment in children born short for gestational age (SGA) who fail to show spontaneous catch-up growth. Data from children (n 613) in a large pharmacoepidemiological survey, the KIGS (Pharmacia International Growth Database), or who had participated in clinical trials were used to develop the model. Another group of similar children (n 68) from KIGS was used for validation. In the first year of GH treatment, the growth response correlated positively with GH dose, weight at the start of GH treatment, and midparental height SD score and negatively with age at treatment start. Using this model, 52 % of the variability of the growth response could be ex-plained, with a mean error SD of 1.3 cm. GH dose was the most important response predictor (35 % of variability), followed by age at treatment start. The second year growth response wa