| Biosynthetic growth hormone (GH) was initially predominantly used to treat children with short stature as a consequence of a congenital or acquired somatic defect. Since the nineties, GH treatment was also considered a possible intervention for short children without a detectable underlying pathology. In adolescence, better effects were expected when GH would be combined with a puberty delaying hormone. In order to justify hormone treatment in this specific group, evidence is needed to show that short stature is associated with psychosocial problems and that hormone treatment improves psychosocial functioning and well being. This PhD study evaluates the combined treatement of GH and the puberty delaying hormone Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Agonist (GnRHa) in adolescents with idiopathic short stature or adolescents born small for gestational age (SGA). The participants were examined in adolesence and in young adulthood. |
