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Objective: To evaluate the growth response to growth hormone (GH) replacement therapy during a gluten-free diet in patients with celiac disease (CD) associated with GH deficiency (GHD)., Patients and Methods: A total of 14 prepubertal children affected by CD and GHD with no catch-up growth after >/=12 months of gluten-free diet and a reversion to seronegativity for antiendomysium antibodies and 10 age-matched prepubertal children with idiopathic GHD (IGHD) entered the study. All of the patients were treated with the same GH dosage (0.25 mg/kg subcutaneously each week). Height, growth rate, and body mass index were measured at the time of diagnosis of CD, at the time of endocrinological evaluation, and after the first, second, and third year of GH replacement therapy., Results: Growth rate strikingly increased (P < 0.005) during the first year of therapy in a similar way in subjects with CD/GHD and IGHD (from a median standard deviation score [SDS] of -2.34 to an SDS of 3.25 and from an SDS of -1.29 to an SDS of 2.79, respectively). During the second and third years of GH treatment, the growth rate tended to decrease but the values at the third year were always positive (CD/GHD, median SDS, 1.10; IGHD, median SDS, 0.11), indicating continued catch-up growth., Conclusions: In patients with CD with GH deficiency confirmed after >/=12 months of gluten-free diet, GH replacement therapy should be started to allow complete catch-up growth in children. In addition, the effect of GH treatment in patients who comply with a gluten-free diet seems to be comparable to that observed in children with IGHD.

Objectives: To assess the occurrence of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in patients with celiac disease (CD) referred for short stature., Design: A retrospective, multi-center study. A total of 7066 children with short stature were referred to a number of centers for second-line evaluation over a 5-year period. All patients were screened for CD by antiendomysial antibodies (EMA) and antitissue transglutaminase IgA. Those with positive sera underwent intestinal biopsy. The EMA-negative patients and the EMA-positive ones who did not grow after 1 year of gluten-free diet underwent endocrinological investigation., Results: Among the 7066 short children (age 2-14 years) evaluated, 650 (9.2%) had GHD and 44 (0.63%) had CD. An association of both CD and GHD was found in 16 short children (0.23%); these children did not grow after 1 year of gluten-free diet and therefore GH treatment was started., Conclusions: GH secretion should be evaluated in celiac patients showing no catch-up growth after an appropriate period on a gluten-free diet in spite of reversion to seronegativity for EMA.