Recombinant human growth hormone treatment in elderly patients undergoing elective total hip replacement.

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.

The researchers examined the effects of recombinant human growth hormone (GH) treatment on body composition and physical performance in elderly patients undergoing elective total hip replacement.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 33 patients were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

The researchers recruited 33 patients (aged 60-82 years) scheduled for hip replacement.

How the Study Was Run

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

The patients 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 patients 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.

Groups ran in parallel: each of the patients stayed in one arm throughout.

The study was double-blind and placebo-controlled with parallel groups.

Serum IGF-I, body composition, mid-thigh muscle cross-sectional area, muscle strength and 4-min walking distance were measured at baseline, 2-3 days preoperatively and 4 weeks postoperatively.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip, Body Composition, Human Growth Hormone, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I, Isometric Contraction, Muscle, Skeletal and Postoperative Period.

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 33 patients.

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 8 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2003 (Clinical endocrinology), a journal based in England.

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