Optimal final adult height achieved by low-dose recombinant human growth hormone therapy
Article Category: Original article
Publicado en línea: 30 abr 2024
Páginas: 53 - 60
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/abm-2024-0011
Palabras clave
© 2024 Tansit Saengkaew et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Background
Thailand has been administering the recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) treatment for >20 years. Due to limited resources being available, efforts have been directed toward utilizing rhGH at the lowest feasible dose. However, there is currently a lack of evidence in terms of the efficacy and outcomes.
Objective
To evaluate the auxological outcomes of growth hormone (GH) treatment and the GH secretion ability after reaching final adult height (FAH) and discontinuing rhGH.
Methods
Data of 40 patients were retrospectively reviewed. The clinical characteristics, auxological data, and results of biochemical and endocrine investigations before and during rhGH treatment were evaluated. In addition, GH retesting was performed in 24 patients using the insulin tolerance test.
Results
Twenty patients (50%) had complete growth hormone deficiency (GHD), defined as peak stimulated GH level <5 ng/mL, and the remaining patients had partial GHD. Most patients were male (n = 25, 62.5%). The mean age at which rhGH was initiated was 8.9 years. Patients with partial GHD received a higher dose of rhGH than those with complete GHD (30.9 µg/kg/d vs. 26.2 µg/kg/d,
Conclusion
This study has demonstrated that the use of low-dose rhGH could result in healthy populations achieving optimal FAHs. Patients with MPHD might not require retesting as they were likely to have persistent GHD. The results obtained in this research highlight the benefits of the treatment. This treatment can be applied in resource-limited countries.