Consider when using hormone therapy to increase height for children

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Nguyen Minh Tuan - Pediatrician - Department of Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital.

1. Use and Abuse of HGH

Synthetic human growth hormone was developed in 1985 and approved by the FDA for specific use in children and adults. In children, HGH injections are approved to treat unexplained short stature as well as poor growth due to a number of medical causes, including:
Turner syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects growth of a girl Prader-Willi syndrome, an uncommon genetic disorder that causes poor physical growth, low sex hormone levels and a constant feeling of hunger Chronic kidney disease HGH deficiency or failure Babies are born small for gestational age

2. Growth Hormone therapy helps increase height for children

According to a team of Swedish researchers who have followed children for 20 years, treating abnormally short children with growth hormone can increase their adult height, even if they are not found to be deficient. growth hormone.
In a group of 151 children, the average height gain in those given two higher doses of growth hormone was about 3 inches. For many years, doctors have known that giving growth hormone, which is naturally secreted by the pituitary gland, helps children with this hormone deficiency. But whether hormone injections for short children without growth hormone deficiency are effective is unknown.
The children studied by the Swedish team had short stature due to other causes, such as idiopathic short stature (ISS). Others were small for gestational age or were born small, the lowest 3% of children being outside the bounds of what is generally considered normal growth.

This treatment is not universally recommended for all children whose short stature is not due to GH deficiency but should only be recommended for those children predicted to have a good growth response and only after discussion. Be careful with the child and the parents to decide if the child has a significant height deficiency.

3. Growth hormone for children - What are the risks?

Growth hormone appears to be safe, at least for the first few years. But little is known about the risks that may persist into adulthood. A recent study in the journal Neurology found a strong link between growth hormone treatment in childhood and the risk of stroke in adulthood. The study followed nearly 7,000 short but healthy children who were treated with growth hormone. They were followed for an average age of 28, had 11 strokes during the study, twice as many as the researchers expected, and four of them died. Strokes that cause bleeding in the brain (called hemorrhagic strokes) appear to be a particular risk and are about seven times higher in the growth hormone group.
A 2012 study by the same group of researchers found that children of short stature treated with growth hormone, whether or not they had growth hormone deficiency, had a higher risk of premature death. adulthood. The increased risk seems to be driven by a greater number of bone cancers and bleeding in the brain. And growth hormones can increase a child's risk of type 2 diabetes.
A study published in 2000 in the journal Lancet, which looked at the records of more than 23,000 children treated with growth hormone for an average of 3 years, found that 18 children developed type 2 diabetes, about six times as many children. times higher than expected by the researchers. But perhaps the biggest risk when initiating growth hormone treatment is psychological.
Possible side effects of HGH use include:
Nerve, muscle or joint pain Swelling from fluid in the body's tissues (edema) Carpal tunnel syndrome Numbness and tingling in the skin Levels High cholesterol HGH can also increase the risk of diabetes and contribute to the development of cancerous tumors.

4. Should growth hormone be used for children?

Parents often worry when their child is much shorter than average. However, when a child falls off the growth curve, parents should be concerned and evaluate it. Potential medical causes include growth hormone deficiency, certain genetic disorders, or an underactive thyroid. Although most short babies are healthy, parents often worry, especially when the child is a boy. So they may want to use expensive therapy even if their child is in good health. For short healthy children, studies predict that growth hormone will add 1 to 3 inches in adulthood. But if both parents are short, that limits what growth hormone therapy can do.
In terms of safety, although growth hormone can stimulate height growth when children take it, there are no known risks later in life. In theory, growth hormone could increase the odds of diabetes or some cancers. The other big problem is the cost of this therapy is also very expensive.
Growth hormone is not the only option for idiopathic short stature. Boys may be given low doses of androgens, also known as male hormones. This therapy speeds up the growth of boys in the short term, but there is no evidence that it increases adult height.

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Reference source: Webmd.com