Change in total body water as a predictive tool for growth hormone treatment response.

Background/aims: To investigate whether short-term changes in body composition as a result of growth hormone therapy could be used to predict its growth effect after 1 year in children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and children born small for gestational age (SGA).

Methods: 88 GHD children and 99 SGA children who started treatment with recombinant human growth hormone were included. Total body water (TBW) and height were measured.