Abstract
BackgroundWe performed this study to investigate the influence of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy on radiographic indices of the spine using propensity-matched analysis.MethodsPatients with idiopathic short stature who had undergone both growth hormone therapy and whole-spine radiographs more than twice prior to 15 years of age were included in the patient group. Other patients who had undergone whole-spine radiographs more than twice prior to the same age during regular checkups for idiopathic scoliosis formed the control group. Propensity-matched analysis was performed to reduce the selection bias. The scoliosis Cobb angle, coronal balance, apical vertebral translation, apical rotation, and pelvic obliquity were measured from the radiographs taken at the periodic follow-ups. The rate of progression of the measurements was adjusted by multiple factors using a linear mixed model with sex as the fixed effect and age and each subject as the random effects.ResultsUsing a propensity-matched analysis, 48 patients were finally included in both groups. The scoliosis Cobb angle increased by 1.0° (p < 0.001) per year in the patient group, whereas there was no significant annual change in the control group (p = 0.496). Female patients showed a greater scoliosis Cobb angle (1.8°, p = 0.039) compared with male patients. There was no significant difference between the patient and control groups in coronal balance (p = 0.264). Apical vertebral translation per year was increased by 1.2 mm (p < 0.001) in the patient group and 0.5 mm in the control group (p = 0.003).ConclusionRadiographic examination revealed that growth hormone therapy for idiopathic short stature affected the progression of the scoliosis Cobb angle and apical vertebral translation on the coronal plane. Physicians should be aware that annual follow-up is required to evaluate the change in the curvature of the spine in patients undergoing rhGH treatment.
Highlights
We performed this study to investigate the influence of recombinant human growth hormone therapy on radiographic indices of the spine using propensity-matched analysis
Using propensity-matched analysis, 48 patients were included in the control group in the present study (Fig. 2)
We performed this study to investigate the influence of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy on radiographic indices of the spine, using propensitymatched analysis. rhGH therapy affected the progression of the scoliosis Cobb angle and apical vertebral translation on the coronal plane
Summary
We performed this study to investigate the influence of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy on radiographic indices of the spine using propensity-matched analysis. Recombinant hGH (rhGH) has replaced hGH in the treatment of dwarfism instead of hGH, as the latter poses a risk of transmitting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease [3]. RhGH replacement therapy is associated with several adverse effects in children including prepubertal gynecomastia [5] and malignancy [6, 7]. Whether or not GH therapy can cause the progression of scoliosis is debatable. A case of progression of structural scoliosis during treatment with GH was reported [9], and several other studies purported to
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