Clonidine Treatment in Children with Non-Endocrine Short Stature

Clonidine stimulates GH release via release of GH releasing hormone from the hypothalamus. There has been controversy as to its usefulness in the therapy of children with constitutional growth delay.To evaluate the effect of clonidine treatment we administered clonidine (0.1mg/m2) daily for more than 6 months to 31 prepubertal children (20 male and 11 female) and 24 pubertal children (16 male and 8 female) with non-endocrine short stature. Then we analyzed the height velocity (HV), height velocity SD score (HVSD), and height SD score (HSD) as indicators of their growth response to this therapy. Furthermore, we determined the serum levels of IGF- I and IGFBP-3.In prepubertal children the mean HV and HVSD were increased at 6 months, and remained high thereafter. Four children showed a 2cm increase of HV at 6 months. In pubertal children both HV and HVSD were increased at 6 months, but not increased further. Both IGF- I and IGFBP-3 were significantly increased at 6 months and remained high until 12 months. There was no evidence of accelerated bone maturation or noticeable side-effects.In conclusion, administration of clonidine could be a useful mode of treatment in some children with non-endocrine short stature because of the low cost and the convenience of oral intake. The administration period should be kept within 6 months at a time.