LG Chem announced on May 28th that it has independently developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model capable of predicting children's height growth following growth hormone treatment, signaling a step forward in improving the treatment environment for pediatric short stature in Korea.
The company revealed that it presented research results related to the ‘AI-Based Growth Prediction Model Development’ through a poster at the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and the European Endocrine Society Congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The study involved joint participation from Professor Shim Young-seok of Ajou University Hospital and LG Chem’s DX team leader Jeong Ji-yeon.
Professor Shim Young-seok emphasized the increasing demand from healthcare providers for more accurate predictions of treatment effects in children with short stature, stating, “We have enhanced the AI-based height growth prediction model by utilizing extensive treatment data accumulated through LG Chem’s long-term safety studies.”
LG Chem constructed an ensemble AI model that combines several deep learning algorithms, trained on treatment data from 3,045 children with short stature, to improve prediction accuracy. The model’s stability was also validated using actual growth data from 550 children, assessing the reliability of predictions during the first to third years of treatment.
Compared to traditional statistical models, the AI model demonstrated superior precision in predicting height growth. Remarkably, within an average error margin of 1.95cm, the AI accurately predicted the one-year height gain using only initial measurements such as height, weight, and growth hormone dosage at the first visit.
LG Chem plans to further refine this AI model to enhance its predictive stability and evolve it into a clinical tool that accurately indicates changes in height percentile after growth hormone therapy.
Yoon Soo-young, head of Life Sciences and Business Innovation at LG Chem, stated, “Developing a growth prediction model tailored to Korean children based on domestic short stature patient data has significant meaning. We hope this achievement will serve as a compass in actual clinical settings, guiding treatment decisions.”
Since 2012, LG Chem has been conducting the ‘LGS (LG Growth Study),’ Korea’s first long-term growth hormone treatment data collection project for pediatric patients. This large-scale research aims to observe the long-term safety and efficacy in over 10,000 children by 2032, and the extensive data has enabled the publication of numerous clinical papers related to growth hormone treatment.
