Growth hormone is effective in the treatment of severe growth retardation in children with juvenile chronic arthritis. Double blind placebo-controlled followup study.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Who Took Part

The study group was 25 children.

The age groups tagged for this paper are young children, children and teenagers, both men and women.

In a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, the researchers treated 25 prepubertal children (7 boys, 18 girls, mean age 9.0 yrs) with severe growth retardation due to JCA with human recombinant GH (6 months) and placebo (6 months).

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Because people in this Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Some children received a placebo instead of Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over), giving a reference point.

In the crossover set-up each of the children took both Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Arthritis, Juvenile, Failure to Thrive, Growth Hormone and Hormones.

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 25 children.

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

The publication is from 2004 (The Journal of rheumatology), a journal based in Canada.

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