Can hGH increase height?
Posted by OneStop. Fit on
Children with Idiopathic Short Stature do not attain a normal adult height. The improvement of adult height with treatment with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH), led to increasing of 7-10cm at a dosage of 2-4iu a day for a period of 6 months, but the number of studies is limited. The topic has remained controversial.
Objective
The objective was to conduct a retrospective analysis of our experience with 123 children with ISS(Short Height) treated with 4iu of rhGH every day, with the aim of comparing the different subgroups of non-familial short stature, familial short stature, normal puberty, and delayed puberty and to assess the benefit by comparison with 305 untreated historical controls, from nine different randomized and nonrandomized controlled studies.
Results
Eighty-eight of our children (68 males and 20 females) attained an adult height or near-adult height of -0.71 SDS (0.74 SD) (95% CI, -0.87 to -0.55) with a benefit over untreated controls of 9.5 cm for males and 8.6 cm (6.7 to 10.5 cm) for females.
In the analysis of the subgroups, the adult height and adult height gain of children with non-familial short stature were significantly higher than of familial short stature. No difference was found in the cohorts with normal or delayed puberty in any of the subgroups, except between the non-familial short stature and familial short stature puberty cohorts. This has implications for the interpretation of the benefit of treatment in studies where the number of children with familial short stature in the controls or treated subjects is not known.
The treatment was safe. There were no significant adverse events. The IGF-1 values were essentially within the levels expected for the stages of puberty.
Conclusion
hGH is quite potent in treating short stature in children.
FDA has approved the use of rhGH for the treatment for Short Stature. Consult your doctor for hGH treatment for short stature.