Initiating growth hormone therapy for children and adolescents

Abstract

It is common for children and adolescents on growth hormone (GH) treatment to miss one or more injections per week, thereby compromising their linear growth outcome. Among factors likely to affect treatment concordance are patient education and support in the selection of the most appropriate GH injection device. The authors discovered inconsistencies in the process of starting patients on GH therapy throughout the UK, and found that there were no clinical recommendations to support health professionals starting patients on treatment. This article describes the issues involved and the development of practical recommendations for use when starting paediatric patients on long-term GH therapy.