ИСТИНА

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Trace elements and vitamins are essential for the nutrition. Some of them are known to affect the endocrine system adversely. Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) may be associated with trace elements and vitamins deficiency as a result improper functioning of the involved endocrine system. The aim of this study is to examine the amount of some micronutrients in prepubertal GHD children. METHODS: The 13 prepubertal treatment-naive children (2 girls, 11 boys; aged 3.5-1 2.0 yr; median 8.0 years) with GHD were included in this study. The levels of microminerals (iron, cobalt, chromium, copper, manganese, selenium, zinc, molybdenum, nickel and boron) and vitamins (A, B1 , B6, B9, B1 2, C, D and E) were measured. This work was supported by Alfa-Endo Program of Charities Aid Foundation Russia, funded by Alfa-Group. RESULTS: The measured values of micronutrients were within the reference ranges except the copper. There were more 60% of patients have the values of copper below lower limit of reference range (reference range for copper – 700-1400 µg/l). In addition, the copper data were inversely correlated with bone age, weight and height data (the Spearman r -0.66, -0.74, -0.67, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: We observed a low value of copper in GHD children which were inversely correlated with the values of bone age, weight and height.