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. 2025 Apr;26(2):147-159.
doi: 10.1007/s11154-024-09911-y. Epub 2024 Sep 17.

Effects of long-term treatment with recombinant growth hormone on growth outcome in children born small for gestational age: a systematic review

Rosario Ferrigno  1 , Martin O Savage  2 , Daniela Cioffi  3 , Valeria Pellino  3 , Maria Cristina Savanelli  3 , Antonella Klain  3
Affiliations

Effects of long-term treatment with recombinant growth hormone on growth outcome in children born small for gestational age: a systematic review

Rosario Ferrigno et al. Rev Endocr Metab Disord. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Children born small for gestational age (SGA) are defined as those having birth weight and/or length below -2 SD for gestational age. In approximately 90% of cases, SGA children experience catch-up growth in the first two years of life and a subsequent regular growth rate, reaching normal adult height. However, in the remaining 10% of cases, SGA children fail to have catch-up growth, showing persistent short stature and a constantly impaired growth rate, leading to decreased adult height compared with both general population and their mid-parental height. Therefore, in these children GH treatment may be indicated to improve growth outcome. As it can be started in most countries from the age of 4 years and is usually recommended until the completion of puberty, long-term GH treatment in SGA children (namely, longer than three years) showed a persistent improvement in height and an initial improvement in growth rate in the first year of treatment, followed by a stable, regular growth rate over time. In the present article, we systematically reviewed the currently available reports about efficacy of long-term GH treatment in SGA children, with a particular focus on growth rate over time and adult height.

Keywords: Growth hormone; Growth hormone treatment; Growth velocity; Height; Small for gestational age.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval: Not applicable. Informed consent: Not applicable. Competing interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

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