Transient growth deceleration in normal short children

We have examined the records of 21 short children evaluated for growth hormone deficiency and found not to be deficient. Their growth velocity was evaluated for at least 6 months, both before and after testing. Without any specific therapeutic intervention, growth velocity was significantly higher after testing, as compared with before. We attribute this apparent therapeutic effect of testing to a selection bias, due to the fact that, in normal clinical practice, children are selected for testing immediately following a period of slow growth, and that decelerations of growth are very often transient. Studies of growth-stimulating treatments using children as their own controls should, for this reason, be interpreted with caution.Abbreviation GH growth hormone This is publication no. 87032 of the McGill University-Montreal Children's Hospital Research Institute