Table 1.

Clinical characteristics at baseline for the GHD groups.

Variablea	Any GHD	Severe GHD	Mild GHD	P value
n	94	45	49	–
Female gender (n)	31	14	17	–
Age (years)	9.0 (0.3)	8.9 (0.4)	9.2 (0.4)	0.6801
Height SDS	−2.3 (0.1)	−2.5 (0.2)	−2.2 (0.1)	0.2844
Weight SDS	−1.4 (0.1)	−1.2 (0.2)	−1.5 (0.1)	0.3719
Bone age (years)	6.8 (0.3)	6.7 (0.5)	7.0 (0.5)	0.6374
Distance to target height SDS	−1.4 (0.2)	−1.4 (0.3)	−1.3 (0.2)	0.7593
IGF1 SDS	−1.8 (0.1)b	−1.8 (0.2)c	−1.7 (0.2)d	0.5278
IGFBP-3 SDS	−0.3 (0.1)b	−0.4 (0.2)c	−0.2 (0.1)d	0.3455
Glucose (mmol/l)	4.8 (0.1)	4.7 (0.1)	4.8 (0.1)	0.4430
HOMA-IR	1.1 (0.1)	1.3 (0.7)	1.0 (0.1)	0.0766
Insulin (pmol/l)	38.2 (3.0)	43.3 (4.4)	32.7 (4.0)	0.0785
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)	4.8 (0.1)	4.7 (0.1)	4.9 (0.1)	0.2700
HDL-cholesterol (mmol/l)	1.7 (0.0)	1.6 (0.1)	1.8 (0.1)	0.0556
LDL-cholesterol (mmol/l)	2.7 (0.1)	2.7 (0.1)	2.8 (0.1)	0.6072
Triglycerides (mmol/l)	0.8 (0.0)	0.9 (0.1)	0.7 (0.1)	0.1679
Free T4 (pmol/l)	15.1 (0.2)	15.0 (0.3)	15.3 (0.3)	0.5174
TSH (mIU/l)	2.5 (0.2)	2.5 (0.2)	2.6 (0.3)	0.8378

HOMA-IR, homeostatic model assessment insulin resistance; IGFBP-3, insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3; IGF1, insulin-like growth factor 1; T₄, thyroxine; TSH, thyroid-stimulating hormone.

^aFor continuous variables, the means (standard error of the mean) are shown for all GHD subjects (irrespective of GHD severity) and for GHD severity groups (severe: peak GH ≤4 μg/l, mild: peak GH >4 to <10 μg/l). The indicated P values were obtained from a Student's t test between mild and severe GHD. All baseline blood samples were taken under fasted conditions.

^bn=92.

^cn=43.

^dn=49.