In 1958 the first recorded case of a patient treated with human growth hormone for growth hormone deficiency was published. Since that time, the source and availability of human growth hormone have changed. With the increased availability of growth hormone, there has been an uptrend in the level below which childhood growth hormone deficiency is diagnosed based on provocative GH stimulation testing. This increase is despite better specificity of growth hormone assays in addition to a lack of supportive evidence regarding appropriate normal values. With these trends the diagnosis of childhood growth hormone deficiency is evolving, and clinicians should be aware that this may have potential ethical implications.

1958 年，发表了第一例因生长激素缺乏症而接受人类生长激素治疗的患者。从那时起，人类生长激素的来源和可用性发生了变化。随着生长激素可用性的增加，根据刺激性 GH 刺激测试诊断出儿童生长激素缺乏症的水平呈上升趋势。除了缺乏关于适当的正常值的支持性证据外，尽管生长激素检测具有更好的特异性，但仍会出现这种增加。随着这些趋势，儿童生长激素缺乏症的诊断正在发展，临床医生应该意识到这可能具有潜在的伦理影响。