The plasma arginine vasopressin response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in children with short stature is related to age and the onset of puberty.

The plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia was investigated in 27 children with short stature. None had diabetes insipidus. Six patients were excluded from further analysis because of hypothalamo-pituitary dysfunction. Of the remainder, 14 were prepubertal (Tanner 1) and seven were pubertal (Tanner 2-4). Both groups had similar height velocity retardation. There was a significant rise of AVP of 3.4 +/- 1.3 pmol/l at 30 min in the pubertal group (P less than 0.05) but no significant change in prepubertal patients. There was a significant relationship between chronological age and AVP response 30 min after insulin (r = 0.45, P less than 0.05) and a closer correlation between bone age and AVP response (r = 0.62, P less than 0.01). The data suggest that insulin-induced hypoglycaemia does not reliably stimulate AVP secretion in children and that this response is related to age and pubertal stage.