Growth Hormone Treatment of Children Born With Retarded Intrauterine Growth at Age 2-5 Years

Inclusion Criteria: * IUGR defined as birth length and/or weight below the lower limit (\< P10) of the Lubchenco curves for the gestational age. * Chronological age = 2-5 years * HV below average for CA * Insufficient catch-up growth (Height \< P3 for chronological age, according to Hernández) * Parental height greater than or equal to -2 SDS of average, that is, 160 cm or more for the father and 148 cm or more for the mother * Normal response to GH stimulation test (greater tan or equal to 10 ng/mL) * Bone age (measured through Greulich and Pyle method) less than or equal to CA Exclusion Criteria: * Children born from multiple pregnancy * Children with post-ischemic encephalopathy * Recorded malformative syndromes associated to short stature (Silver-Russell, Rubinstein Taybi, Seckel etc.) * Any metabolic or endocrinological disorder (diabetes mellitus, diabetes insipidus, congenital metabolic disorders, with the exception of thyroid diseases corrected by replacement therapy) * Any type of growth retardation associated to infections, embryopathies or severe chronic diseases (hemopathies, hepatopathies, malabsorptive pathology, neurologic alterations....) * Nutritional disorders (celiac disease) or osteodystrophies * Patients who receive or received any treatment (anabolic drugs, sex steroids, etc.) likely to interfere with GH effects * Abnormal karyotype * Neoplasms * Previous or ongoing chemotherapy and/or irradiation * Renal dysfunction, defined as serum creatinine \> 1 …