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Comprehensive assessment of cardiovascular disease risk in children with short stature due to isolated growth hormone deficiency: a case-control study

  • Saniya Gupta , Devi Dayal ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Manoj Kumar Rohit , Atit A. Gawalkar ORCID logo , Kumar Manish Raj , Savita Verma Attri , Naresh Sachdeva and Harvinder Kaur
Published/Copyright: July 12, 2022

Abstract

Objectives

Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in adults is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although children with GHD are also believed to have a similar cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk beginning at an early age, the available data in children is scarce. We aimed to determine the various CVD risk parameters in children with isolated GHD (IGHD).

Methods

A cross-sectional case-control study was conducted at a tertiary care centre in North India comparing various auxological, biochemical, and echocardiographic parameters between 20 IGHD children aged 5–15 years and their age and sex-matched healthy controls.

Results

The mean age of children with IGHD and controls was similar (10.5 ± 2.6 yr vs. 9.9 ± 2.7 yr, p=0.48). Children with IGHD had significantly higher waist-hip-ratio (p=0.01), total cholesterol (p=0.02), non-high-density lipoprotein–cholesterol (p=0.02), serum homocysteine (p<0.001), C-reactive protein (CRP) (p=0.01) and pro-brain natriuretic peptide (pro-BNP) (p=0.04) levels as compared to healthy controls. Left ventricular mass (LVM) and interventricular septal thickness were significantly lower (p=0.04; p=0.02) in IGHD children. Correlation analysis showed that pro-BNP and CRP levels had negative correlation (p<0.001, r=−0.70; and p=0.04, r=−0.44, respectively) and LVM had a positive correlation (p=0.02, r=0.53) with height SDS among IGHD children.

Conclusions

Children with IGHD showed abnormalities in several biochemical and cardiac parameters that may be associated with an increased CVD risk in later life. More extensive studies, including younger children with IGHD, are needed to determine the lower ages at which the CVD risk is detectable.


Corresponding author: Devi Dayal, Professor, Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Advanced Pediatrics Center, Chandigarh 160012, India, Phone: +91-172-2755657 (O) +91-172-2772777 (R), Fax: +91-172-2744401; 2745078, E-mail:

Funding source: Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India

Award Identifier / Grant number: Thesis grant: PGI/MERC/2019/5379-82

  1. Research funding: This work was funded by the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India (Thesis grant: PGI/MERC/2019/5379-82).

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: The Institute’s Ethics committee approved the study (INT/IEC/2019/002166).

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Received: 2021-11-18
Accepted: 2022-06-16
Published Online: 2022-07-12
Published in Print: 2022-08-26

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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