After an overnight fast, blood samples were collected from both the GHD and control groups to analyze serum lipid levels, including triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and adipocytokines including leptin, resistin and ghrelin. The lipid profile was analyzed using routine laboratory methods. Serum samples were stored at -80 °C. Leptin was measured with a kit from Labsystems Diagnostics Oy (Vantaa, Finland), and resistin and ghrelin with kits from USCN Life Science Inc (Wuhan, PRC) using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. The sensitivities of the ELISA kits (detection limits) were 0.04 ng/mL, 0.2 ng/mL, and 21 pg/mL for leptin (Cat. No. 140101/A), resistin (Cat. No. L140718502), and ghrelin (Cat. No. L140718468), respectively. Intra-assay variability was 3.5-13.3%, <5.8% and 3.3-10.0% for leptin, resistin, and ghrelin, respectively. Inter-assay variability was 10.2%, 14.8% and 14.7% for these markers, respectively.