Diagnostic Value of Provocative Test by Insulin Combined with Clonidine for Growth Hormone Deficiency in Children

Objective: to evaluate the diagnostic value of provocative test by insulin combined with clonidine for growth hormone deficiency (ghd) during childhood methods: eighty children underwent a provocative test with insulin(0.075u/kg, intravenous) combined with clonidine (4μg/kg, orally). among them, 40 children underwent clonidine provocative test, 40 children underwent insulin tolerance test (itt) in another day. findings: the specificity of itt+clonidine test (74%, 88%) was remarkably higher than that of itt (48%) or clonidine test (65%). itt+clonidine test had a better accuracy (75%, 85%) than that of itt (63%) or clonidine test (73%) conclusion: we conclude that the combined clonidine+insulin test is a feasible, reliable, convenient, time saving, and safe tool for evaluation of the growth hormone (gh) axes than the clonidine test or itt.