A preliminary study of growth hormone therapy for Crohn's disease.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the bowel.

In a preliminary study, the researchers evaluated whether the administration of growth hormone (somatropin) as well as a high-protein diet would ameliorate the symptoms of the disease.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 37 adults were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Patients continued to be treated by their usual physicians and to receive other medications for Crohn's disease.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and pilot.

The adults were allocated by chance, so the Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Blinding on both sides kept the adults and researchers unaware of who received Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over).

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) could be set against what happens without it.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) study would be practical.

The primary end point was the change in scores on the Crohn's Disease Activity Index from base line to month 4.

Scores can range from 0 to 600, with higher scores indicating more disease activity.

What Was Measured

In a preliminary study, the researchers evaluated whether the administration of growth hormone (somatropin) as well as a high-protein diet would ameliorate the symptoms of the disease.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Combined Modality Therapy, Crohn Disease, Dietary Proteins, Human Growth Hormone and Pilot Projects.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) in 37 adults.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2000 (The New England journal of medicine), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) compound page, all human trials.