J Pediatr. 1998 Mar.
Decreased growth hormone response to glucagon in infants after an apnea of infancy.
Chanoine JP, Rebuffat E, Kahn A, Van Vliet G.
Hopital Universitaire des Enfants Reine Fabiola, Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
[ PubMed ]

Abstract: We studied glucagon-induced growth hormone secretion in 9 patients with apnea of infancy and in 55 siblings of children who had died of sudden infant death syndrome, who were included as a comparison group. We observed a 33% decrease in growth hormone secretion in patients with apnea of infancy. However, linear growth remained normal. This finding could be related to either repeated episodes of hypoxia or to abnormal maturation of the autonomous nervous system.