Abstract:

Objective:The aim of this study is to investigate relationship between the concentration of human growth hormone in urine (HGH-U) and puberty, and to find a simple, accurate, and acceptable way of judging puberty of patients.Methods: The concen- tration of HGH-Uwas measured by using radioimmunoassay in 277 students of Chengdu, and studentswere divided into three dif- ferent groups, according to their ages (9, 13, 17 years old). Half of them are male. In order to evaluate the relationship between the concentration ofHGH-Uand puberty, the information of age, height, weight, growth velocity and sex characterof all individu- als were obtained, and analyzed their relationwith the concentration of individuals.HGH-U.Results:¹There was no significant difference in the concentration of HGH-Ubetween the 9-year-old group and the 13-year-old group, but there is significant differ- ence between the concentration of HGH-Uin the 9-year-old, 13-year-old groups and that of the 17-year-old group, and the con- centration in the lattergroup is lowerthan those of the formertwo groups.ºThe concentration ofHGH-Uwas negatively correlated with height, body weight, age, sex character and growth velocity (P<0.05), but the correlation coefficient is low.»The coef- ficients of variation of HGH-Uin all groupwere higher than 30%, which indicated a low dispersion degree.Conclusion:The con- centration of HGH-U cannot be used as an independent indicator to evaluate puberty of children.

Key words: urine, growth hormone, puberty