Growth hormone therapy and short stature-related distress: A randomized placebo-controlled trial.

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.

To determine the impact of GH therapy on psychosocial well-being and the ability of psychological metrics to define short stature-related distress.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as children and teenagers, men only.

Explicit (conscious/voluntary) psychological metrics (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory [PedsQL], Silhouette Apperception Test [SAT], Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale [RSES], Child Behavior Checklist [CBCL]) and implicit (unconscious/involuntary) psychological metrics (Single-Category Implicit Association Test for height [SC-IAT-H], Height Perception Picture Test [HPPT]).

How the Study Was Run

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

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

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.

Nothing was hidden in this open-label Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) study: the participants and staff both knew the treatment.

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.

Psychosocial evaluations were performed at study entry, after 1 and 4 years.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Body Height, Growth Hormone, Israel, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Psychological Distress, Psychological Tests and Self Concept.

Author keywords: explicit psychological metrics, growth hormone therapy, idiopathic short stature, implicit psychological metrics, psychosocial assessment and psychosocial functioning.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and open-label study of Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over).

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2019 (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.