Growth hormone shots are increasingly touted as the solution— but is it worth giving them a shot?
Growth hormone treatment has been in use since the late 1950s. Studies over the course of those decades show that hGH is usually effective and safe. While long-term use of hGH does have potential side effects, for children with GHD, and others with legitimate medical needs, those side effects are rare. Unpleasant side effects are much more likely to occur in those who don’t have an actual hormonal deficiency or an approved medical condition, yet still pursue the use of treatment, since hGH levels in the body will become too high. According to the majority of doctors and hospitals, using hGH under the careful supervision of a pediatric endocrinologist is generally considered both safe and effective.
Some children may have true hormonal deficiencies or a medical condition affecting their growth, while others are just short for unknown reasons. This is called idiopathic short stature, or ISS (to add to the alphabet soup of acronyms…), a diagnosis that applies to about three percent of the population in the US.
“ISS is more of a diagnosis of exclusion,” says Dr. Geliebter. She’s discovered children with celiac and thyroid disease (among other issues) when testing for GHD. “If it’s nothing else, and patients meet criteria for extreme short stature, we diagnose ISS and treat with hGH.” While kids with ISS need higher doses of hGH, since their bodies don’t seem to use the hormone properly, it’s as safe for them as for children with GHD.
“We use multiple blood tests to diagnose both GHD and ISS,” Dr. Eugster explains. “Slow growth is something we look for, along with a younger bone age.” A child’s height percentile dropping after the third birthday is a major red flag for both types of growth problems. The official medical label of ISS would be applied to a man under five foot three or a woman under five foot one; children whose projected height trajectory falls into those categories would be diagnosed with ISS. The FDA does approve hGH treatment for children with ISS, but insurance doesn’t always cover it (unsurprisingly).
Create a free account to keep reading.
