Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Growth hormone in health and disease

Long-term GH therapy—benefits and unanswered questions

A major limitation in determining the effects of growth hormone (GH) therapy on overall health has been the duration of studies, which have previously ranged from 1 year to 5 years. Elbornsson et al. now report the outcome of 15 years of GH treatment on body composition and lipid profile in patients with GH deficiency, but some questions remain unanswered.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Attanasio, A. F. et al. Human growth hormone replacement in adult hypopituitary patients: long-term effects on body composition and lipid status—3-year results from the HypoCCS Database. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 87, 1600–1606 (2002).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Elbornsson, M. et al. Fifteen years of growth hormone (GH) replacement improves body composition and cardiovascular risk factors. Eur. J. Endocrinol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1530/EJE-12-1083.

  3. Johannsson, G. et al. Growth hormone treatment of abdominally obese men reduces abdominal fat mass, improves glucose and hypoprotein metabolism, and reduces diastolic blood pressure. J. Clin. Endocrinol. 82, 727–734 (1997).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Møller, N. & Jørgensen, J. O. Effects of growth hormone on glucose, lipid and protein metabolism in human subjects. Endocr. Rev. 30, 152–177 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Holmes, S. J., Shalet, S. M. Factors influencing the desire for long-term growth hormone, hormone replacement in adults. Clin. Endocrinol. (Oxf.) 43, 151–157 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Abs, R. et al. Determinants of cardiovascular risk in 2589 hypopituitary GH-deficient adults—a KIMS database analysis. Eur. J. Endocrinol. 155, 79–90 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Sherlock, M. et al. Mortality in patients with pituitary disease. Endocr. Rev. 3, 301–342 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ayuk, J. Does pituitary radiotherapy increase the risk of stroke and, if so, what preventative actions should be taken? Clin. Endocrinol. (Oxf.) 76, 328–331 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Elbornsson, M. et al. Fifteen years of GH replacement increases bone mineral density in hypopituitary patients with adult-onset GH deficiency. Eur. J. Endocrinol. 166, 787–795 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Woodmansee, W. W. et al. Occurrence of impaired fasting glucose in GH-deficient adults receiving GH replacement compared with untreated subjects. Clin. Endocrinol. (Oxf.) 72, 59–69 (2010).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Clemmons, D. Long-term GH therapy—benefits and unanswered questions. Nat Rev Endocrinol 9, 317–318 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2013.68

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2013.68

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing