A Risk-Benefit Assessment of Growth Hormone Use in Children

Abstract

Growth hormone prepared by recombinant DNA technology (somatropin) has been commercially available for over 11 years. More than 38,000 children have been treated with different growth hormone products. While the best response to treatment occurs in children with severe growth hormone deficiency, therapy with growth hormone will increase the rate of statural growth in children with short stature of many different aetiologies. There are few studies of the effect of growth hormone treatment of final adult height, and the magnitude of this effect is harder to gauge, particularly in children with idiopathic short stature. Other benefits of growth hormone treatment in children include improvement in psychosocial functioning and physiological parameters, such as bone mineral density. Adverse effects associated with growth hormone treatment have been relatively uncommon. Most of the safety data on growth hormone have come from large postmarketing databases maintained by 2 pharmaceutical companies. The adverse event profile reported in children treated with growth hormone is different from that found in adults. Peripheral oedema and carpal tunnel syndrome, which are common in adults treated with growth hormone and frequently result in treatment discontinuation, are rare in children. Intracranial hypertension is rare, but can occur in children with growth hormone deficiency, Ullrich-Turner syndrome or renal insufficiency during the first 8 to 12 weeks after the start of growth hormone treatment; it has seldom been reported in adults with growth hormone deficiency. Children with growth hormone deficiency, Ullrich-Turner syndrome or renal insufficiency are prone to develop slipped capital femoral epiphyses both before and during growth hormone treatment. Therefore, limping and complaints of hip or knee pain should be carefully investigated.