Suzuki J, et al. - Increased insulin secretion in short children born small-for-gestational-age (SGA) could be a compensatory mechanism to prevent hyperglycemia, which can lead to diabetes mellitus. These metabolic indicators, on the other hand, began to fall after 3 months of growth hormone (GH) therapy and eventually reverted to baseline at 24 months. Such findings imply that short children born SGA have more insulin resistance than growth hormone deficiency (GHD) children during the early stages of GH therapy, but that this increased insulin resistance improves over time.

• The authors investigated insulin resistance and glucose metabolism during GH therapy in 43 short children who were born SGA and 42 children who were diagnosed with GHD.

• In both groups, mean fasting plasma glucose, fasting immunoreactive insulin, and homeostatic model assessment insulin resistance index values were significantly greater after 3-month GH therapy than before and after 12- and 24-month GH therapy.

• Such markers were significantly greater in short children born SGA compared with GHD children until 12-month GH therapy, however, they were not different in both groups after 24-month GH therapy.