Which adults develop side-effects of growth hormone 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.

Although the nature of the side-effects of GH replacement in adults are well described, the factors influencing their development are ill understood.

The aim of this study was to determine whether there were any characteristics of adults with GH deficiency that predicted whether or not they developed side-effects of GH replacement.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 27 men were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Sixty-three adults (27 men, 36 women, aged 34.9 +/- 1.4 (mean +/- SE, range 20.1-59.5 years)) with GH deficiency (peak serum GH response to provocative testing of less than 10 mU/l) who took part in a 12-month study of GH replacement.

The three groups of patients were compared according to age, height, weight and body mass index (BMI) at entry into the study and to pretreatment peak serum GH response to provocative testing.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

The men 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.

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.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) group a baseline to be compared against.

The patient's sex, whether GH deficiency was of childhood or adult onset, estimated duration of GH deficiency, presence or absence of additional pituitary hormone deficiencies, underlying pathological disorder and previous therapeutic interventions were also compared in the three groups of patients.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Age Factors, Body Mass Index, Growth Hormone, Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I and Sex Factors.

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 27 men.

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.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1995 (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.