Effect of zinc supplementation on growth Hormone Insulin growth factor axis in short Egyptian children with zinc deficiency

Fifty pre-pubertal Egyptian children with short stature and Zn deficiency were compared to 50 age-, sex-, and pubertal stage- matched controls. All subjects were subjected to history, auxological assessment and measurement of serum Zn, IGF-1, insulin growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3); and basal and stimulated GH before and 3？months after Zn supplementation (50？mg/day).After 3？months of Zn supplementation in Zn-deficient patients, there were significant increases in height standard deviation score (SDS, P？=？0.033), serum Zn (P？<？0.001), IGF-1 (P？<？0.01), IGF-1 standard deviation score (SDS,P？<？0.01) and IGFBP-3 (P？=？0.042). Zn rose in all patients but reached normal ranges in 64？%, IGF-1 levels rose in 60？% but reached normal ranges in 40？% and IGFBP-3 levels rose in 40？% but reached reference ranges in 22？%. Growth velocity (GV) SDS did not differ between cases and controls (p？=？0.15) but was higher in GH-deficient patients than non-deficient ones, both having Zn deficiency (p？=？0.03).Serum IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels were low in short children with Zn deficiency, and increased after Zn supplementation for 3？months but their levels were still lower than the normal reference ranges in most children; therefore, Zn supplementation may be necessary for longer periods.