Rare diseases · Sign or symptom

Decreased response to growth hormone stimulation test

HP:0000824

What it means

Insufficient responses to growth hormone (GH) provocation tests. GH deficiency is defined as a serum peak GH concentration less than 10 ng/mL on provocation with a combination of at least two separate stimulation tests.

GH stimulation tests are performed with various stimuli, such as insulin, L-dopa, arginine, and growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH). The test using insulin as a stimulus is classically recommended, but this test has potential risks such as hypoglycemia. The effects of growth hormone are mediated almost exclusively by insulin-like growth factor 1(IGF-1), which is produced primarily in the liver. Growth hormone deficiency refers to inadequate levels of GH (and therefore IGF-1), resulting in growth retardation in children and metabolic disturbances in adults.

Rare diseases that can present with this64

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions, and Orphanet separately records 1 disease where this sign is specifically absent. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category

Decreased response to growth hormone…

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This page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.