Controlled trial of pamidronate in children with types III and IV osteogenesis imperfecta confirms vertebral gains but not short-term functional improvement.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Growth Hormone, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Bisphosphonates have been widely administered to children with OI based on observational trials.

Bisphosphonates, antiresorptive drugs for osteoporosis, are widely administered to children with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI).

Who Took Part

The study group was 18 children.

PubMed indexes the participants as young children, children and teenagers.

This randomized trial included 18 children (4-13 years of age) with types III and IV OI.

Seven children in the treatment group received pamidronate for an additional 6-21 months.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

The children were allocated by chance, so the Growth Hormone group and the comparison group should start out alike.

All patients had L1-L4 DXA, spine QCT, spine radiographs, and musculoskeletal and functional testing.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Body Height, Bone Density, Bone Development, Bone and Bones, Densitometry and Diphosphonates.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Growth Hormone in 18 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.

Its findings take up roughly 9 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2005 (Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research), a journal based in England.

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