Metabolic effects of a growth hormone-releasing factor in patients with HIV

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 412 patients were involved.

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

How the Study Was Run

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

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some patients received a placebo instead of GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone), giving a reference point.

Secondary end points included triglyceride levels, the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the level of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), and self-assessed body image.

Glycemic measures included glucose and insulin levels.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Adipose Tissue, Anti-Retroviral Agents, Body Composition, Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone, HIV Infections, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I and Lipids.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) in 412 patients.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

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 2007 (The New England journal of medicine), a journal based in United States.

More context: the GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) compound page, all human trials.