ihatemySOST
Iron
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Introduction
Height has always been something everyone dreams of, due to its impact on daily life, on a person’s psyche, and on their feeling of confidence and satisfaction with their external appearance
Therefore, most people use external human growth hormone with the aim of increasing height even if they are not deficient in growth hormone, but unfortunately most of them take it without doing any research, and without knowing the consequences that result from this decision
In this systematic review, we will reveal many studies that used growth hormone with the aim of increasing height in children/adolescents who are not deficient in growth hormone, and we will also reveal the negative effects that result from using rGh, and interestingly almost all studies either found a negative effect on final height (FAH) or neutral effects, or very minimal results after years of use
Recent studies have revealed that growth hormone can significantly increase the risk of developing type 1 diabetes by about 40%, but it also greatly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, possibly up to 6 or even 8 times (1,2), and the risk of stroke by 3-7 times, and brain hemorrhage by 5-9 times (3). In another study conducted on children treated with growth hormone and followed for twenty-five years, they found that the risk of having a stroke nearly doubled (4), and in another study it was found that the risk of heart disease increased fivefold, the risk of brain hemorrhage sevenfold, and the risk of death increased by 33% at low doses, but at high doses (50mcg/kg+) the risk of death increased threefold (5)
Therefore, it is logical, after seeing the negative effects that can literally be fatal, to be optimistic and automatically assume that growth hormone does indeed increase height if a person is not deficient in growth hormone, but I am sorry to spoil it for you and say that the opposite happens entirely. I will now review many studies that found negative effects (a reduction in final height ranging between 6-9 cm), studies that found no results, and others that reported minimal results and doesnt worth the money and the risk.
a study conducted in Japan, for a period of four and a quarter years, 9 children with idiopathic short stature and 18 others as a control group were treated. At the end of the treatment period, and when comparing the final adult height, it was found that the group that received growth hormone had a height of 154, while those who did not receive it were 162, meaning that growth hormone treatment led to a reduction of 8 cm in final height (6)
In a study that included 59 short-stature boys without GH deficiency, they were divided into three groups: 26 boys without treatment (group A), 13 boys treated with GH only (group B), and 20 boys treated with GH combined with cyproterone acetate (group C). At the end of follow-up, the average height of group A was 162.7 cm, group B 155.4 cm, and group C 161.9 cm. This means that GH alone reduced final height by about 7.3 cm, while combined treatment with cyproterone acetate reduced height by only about 0.8 cm compared to the untreated group (7)
Interestingly, the same negative effect was reported even in children with growth hormone deficiency. In a study that included 12 short-stature boys with partial or transient GH deficiency, they were treated with growth hormone for an average of 2.44 years, starting at approximately 13.1 years of age, with a control group of 12 untreated boys matched for bone age and initial height. At the end of follow-up, the average final height of the treated group was 164.15 cm, while the average final height of the untreated group was 168.87 cm, meaning that GH treatment reduced final height by about 4.7 cm compared to the control group, indicating that GH in this category does not increase final height (8)
In a study on 10 short-stature adolescents without GH deficiency, they were treated for 30 months with combined growth hormone and GnRH analogue therapy, with follow-up of 10 control children without treatment. The treatment stopped pubertal progression and suppressed sex hormones, and reduced growth rate from 6.5 to 3.9 cm/year, with a decrease in height Z-score from −2.4 to −2.6 SD, and predicted height did not improve after treatment. The average final height was 151 cm, meaning it did not exceed the predicted height before treatment. Conclusion: combined therapy does not increase final height in children without GH deficiency and is not recommended (9)
To the author’s knowledge at this time, these are the only studies that found negative effects on final height from growth hormone treatment, so we will begin by discussing the studies that found no effect, either negative or positive.
In a randomized study on 26 short-stature boys and 9 girls without GH deficiency, 17 children were treated with high-dose GH for at least two years and compared to 18 control children. Height-for-age increased from −2.6 to −1.4 SDS, but bone maturation accelerated and the treated children entered puberty early, and final height for bone age did not improve. Conclusion: prepubertal GH temporarily increases growth rate but does not improve final height and accelerates puberty (10)
In a retrospective study on 28 short-stature boys without GH deficiency, they received growth hormone treatment for at least two years until they approached final height. The results showed that the final height was very close to the predicted height before treatment, with an average bone age advancement of 4.9 years over 3.5 years of treatment, explaining the lack of effect of treatment on increasing final height (11)
In a study on 40 short-stature children without GH deficiency, aged 4–10 years at baseline, half received high-dose GH treatment (2 mg/day ≈ 75 µg/kg/day) for an average of 2.3 years, while the other group remained untreated. Results showed that height SDS temporarily increased during treatment from −2.6 to −1.3, but bone maturation accelerated significantly (1.6 years/year versus 1.0 years/year in controls) and the children entered puberty early. After a follow-up period of 3–12 years, final height was similar to the control group (−2.1 versus −1.9 SDS), and even very high doses unfortunately failed (12)
In a Japanese study that included 64 boys and 76 girls with short stature without GH deficiency, they were given standard-dose GH (0.167 mg/kg/week) before age 11, compared to a control group that did not receive treatment. The results showed that standard GH did not improve final height compared to controls (13)
A retrospective study on 71 short-stature children without GH deficiency (54 boys and 17 girls) treated with GH at a dose of 0.69 ± 0.02 IU/kg/week for 4–19 years. The results showed that GH temporarily increased growth rate, but final height remained similar to the predicted height before treatment due to accelerated bone maturation, meaning that GH did not improve final height in children without GH deficiency (14)
A study on 24 children with pituitary deficiency: 14 received hGH and 10 did not. Final height did not improve significantly with hGH (162.9 cm versus 159.5 cm) with no statistically significant difference, but they reached final height faster and the growth spurt was shorter, indicating accelerated skeletal maturation (15)
study on 15 short-stature children without GH deficiency (10 boys and 5 girls, ages 7.4–13.2 years) for 4–10 years. GH was given in two doses: 0.5 U/kg/week (7 children) and 1.0 U/kg/week (8 children). Treatment increased growth rate during the first four years, with slight acceleration in bone maturation, but did not accelerate puberty. Final height did not exceed the predicted height before treatment or the target height (16)
A study including 31 short-stature girls without GH deficiency to evaluate the effect of GH on final height, divided into three groups: no GH (11 girls), GH at 0.5 IU/kg/week (11 girls), and GH combined with cyproterone acetate 50–100 mg/m²/day during puberty (9 girls). The result showed that final height was similar between groups (151.5 ± 5.3 cm, 150.2 ± 6.4 cm, 151.2 ± 4.1 cm respectively), indicating that GH or combined with cyproterone did not improve final height (17)
To the author’s knowledge at this time, he has collected almost all studies that found no positive or negative effects, but regarding positive effects, to the author’s knowledge, there is only one study on children treated with high doses of growth hormone, and after four and a half years they found very slight increases in final height (2.5–2.8 cm) (18)
Discussion:
It appears that the effects of growth hormone on final height in individuals without GH deficiency (and even in some cases with deficiency) are mostly negative on final height, or neutral, and in very rare cases, they are very slight.
The failure of treatment is due to more than one reason. Most studies indicated that growth hormone accelerates linear growth, but advances bone age, so it has no net effect on final height. Interestingly, most authors noted that the bone age advancement is due to the direct effect of growth hormone (6,7,8,10,11,16)
Although the mechanisms are not fully understood, it is unclear how growth hormone accelerates bone maturation, a recent study indicated that growth hormone has a direct role in accelerating skeletal maturation, not only through sex hormones (19). This may be because growth hormone increases IGF-1, and IGF-1 accelerates skeletal maturation (although the mechanisms are not fully understood). In a study on monkeys and mice, they found that external IGF-1 injection only accelerated skeletal maturation without affecting bone length (20), possibly because excessive IGF-1 activity in chondrocytes drives them to differentiate more rapidly into bone cells.
Interestingly, the same results were also observed in mice, where growth hormone accelerated skeletal and sexual maturation (21)
The second reason is likely because normal individuals already secrete large amounts of growth hormone, especially in the later stages of puberty where GH rises threefold. It has been reported that pulsatile GH production (excluding basal secretion) in healthy males at the final stage of puberty ranges between 1800–2000 mcg per day, which is approximately equivalent to 5–6 international units of growth hormone (22,23). Interestingly, it is also noted that all studies administer GH via subcutaneous injection, while recent references showed that the bioavailability of subcutaneous GH injections is approximately 49% in men and 60–63% in women (23,24). This means that if 8 IU of GH are injected subcutaneously, only about 4–4.2 IU actually enter the bloodstream. In any case, this reason may be incorrect, as one study used very high doses and still found no significant improvement in final height (13)
Interestingly, it was also noted that the same results observed in humans were seen in animals, where growth hormone shortened normal mice (25). In another study, they found no effect on length, and an effect appeared only when the dose was increased thirtyfold (i.e., extremely high doses), and finally a slight effect on skeletal growth appeared, but they reported serious side effects (26). In another study, no effect was found in males, and it appeared only in females (27).
In another study, no effect on linear growth was found in sheep (28), and in a study on healthy female monkeys for four and a half years, at a dose described by the researchers as 2.5 times higher than that used in clinical studies, results similar to humans were obtained: no difference in final tibia length, while a very slight increase in spine length (~3%) was observed (29).
Summary/Conclusion:
Injecting external growth hormone does not increase height in individuals without GH deficiency, and in some cases, strong negative effects appear. If positive effects occur, they are very minimal, with risks of heart attack, brain hemorrhage, and sudden death. It is better to preserve your money and spend it on things that benefit you.
References:
1. Incidence of diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance in children and adolescents receiving growth-hormone treatment
W S Cutfield et al. Lancet. 2000
2. Prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus in GH-treated children and adolescents: analysis from the GeNeSIS observational research program
Christopher J Child et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 Jun
3. Growth hormone treatment for childhood short stature and risk of stroke in early adulthood
Amélie Poidvin et al. Neurology. 2014
4. Association of Childhood Growth Hormone Treatment With Long-term Cardiovascular Morbidity
Anders Tidblad 1,✉, Matteo Bottai 2, Helle Kieler 3, Kerstin Albertsson-Wikland 4, Lars Sävendahl 1
5. Long-term mortality after recombinant growth hormone treatment for isolated growth hormone deficiency or childhood short stature: preliminary report of the French SAGhE study
Jean-Claude Carel et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Feb
6. Unfavorable effects of growth hormone therapy on the final height of boys with short stature not caused by growth hormone deficiency
Masahiko Kawai, MD, Toru Momoi, MD. Tohru Yorifuji, Mo Chutaro Yamanaka, MD. Hiroshi Sasaki, MD, anc Kenshi Furusho, MD
From the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
7. Combination therapy with GH and cyproterone acetate does not improve final height in boys with non-GH-deficient short stature
Masahiko Kawai, Toru Momoi, Tohru Yorifuji,
Junko Muroi, Chutaro Yamanaka, Hiroshi Sasaki and Kenshi Furusho
Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan |
(Received 21 March 1997; returned for revision 21 April 1997; finally revised 20 June 1997; accepted 20 August 1997)
8. Effects of growth hormone treatment on final adult height in boys with short stature and transitory partial growth hormone deficiency
J H Brämaswig, M Fasse, …G Schellong
9. Final height after combined growth hormone and gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue therapy in short healthy children entering into normally timed puberty
Roberto Lanes, Peter Gunczler
10. High dose growth hormone treatment induces acceleration of skeletal maturation and an earlier onset of puberty in children with idiopathic short stature ; A Kamp, JJJ Waelkens, S MP F de Muinck Keizer-Schramc
I A Delemarre-van de Waal, L Verhoeven-Wind, A H Zwinderman, J M
11. Effect of growth hormone therapy on final versus predicted height in short twelve- to sixteen-year-old boys without growth hormone deficiency
Paul B. Kaplowitz, MD
From the Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versity, Richmond
12. High-dose GH treatment limited to the prepubertal period in young children with idiopathic short stature does not increase adult height
S A van Gool, G A Kamp, R J Odink, S M P F de Muinck Keizer-Schrama, H A Delemarre-van de Waat,
W Oostdijk and J M Wit
13. No Improvement of Adult Height in Non-growth Hormone
(GH) Deficient Short Children with GH Treatment
Toshiaki Tanaka' 2, Kenji Fujieda!, Susumu Yokoyal, Akira Shimatsu', Katsuhiko Tachibana', Hiroyuki Tanaka', Takakuni Tanizawa', Akira Teramoto!, Toshiro Nagai', Yoshikazu Nishi', Yukihiro Hasegawa', Kunihiko Hanew', Keinosuke Fujita', Reiko Horikawa', Goro Takada3, Masao Miyashita*, Tadashi Ohnos and Kazuo Komatsus
14. Final height in non-growth hormone deficient children treated with growth hormone
S. Bernasconi*, M. E. Street, C. Volta, G. Mazzardo and the Italian Multicentre Study Group
15. TREATMENT WITH hGH HAS NO EFFECT ON ADULT HEIGHT IN HYPOPITUITARY CHILDREN
J J Van Der Werff Ten Bosch & A Bot
16. Final height after growth hormone therapy in non-growth-hormone-deficient children with short stature
S Loche et al. J Pediatr. 1994 Aug.
17. Growth Hormone Therapy Does not Improve the Final Height of Girls with Short Stature not Caused by Growth Hormone Deficiency
18. Final height of short normal children treated with growth hormone
19. Effects of estrogen on growth plate senescence and epiphyseal fusion
Martina Weise, Stacy De-Levi, Kevin M. Barnes, +2 , and Jeffrey Baron
20. Administration of IGF-I affects the GH axis and adolescent growth in normal monkeys
M E Wilson
Yerkes Primate Research Center of Emory University, Field Station, 2409 Taylor Lane, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30243 USA (Requests for offprints should be addressed to ME Wilson, Yerkes Primate Research Center of Emory University, 2409 Taylor Lane, Lawrenceville, Georgia
21. Effects of Recombinant Human Growth Hormone on the Onset of Puberty, Leydig Cell Differentiation, Spermatogenesis and Hypothalamic KISS1 Expression in Immature Male Rats
Kyoung Huh,1,* Won Heun Nah,2,* Yang Xu,2 Mi Jung Park,1 and Myung Chan Gye
22. Gender and sexual maturation-dependent contrasts in the neuroregulation of growth hormone secretion in prepubertal and late adolescent males and females--a general clinical research center-based study
J D Veldhuis et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2000 Jul.
23. Endogenous growth hormone secretion and clearance rates in normal boys, as determined by deconvolution analysis: relationship to age, pubertal status, and body mass
P M Martha Jr et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1992 Feb.
24. The absorption profile and availability of a physiological subcutaneously administered dose of recombinant human growth hormone (GH) in adults with GH deficiency
Y J H Janssen 1, M Frölich 2, F Roelfsema 1
25. Growth retardation--an unexpected outcome from growth hormone gene therapy in normal mice with microencapsulated myoblasts
A Al-Hendy et al. Hum Gene Ther. 1996 Jan
26. Effect of exogenous growth hormone on somatic growth, gonadal development, and hepatic CYP2C11 and CYP2C12 expression in prepubertal intact male rats
27. Recombinant human growth hormone enhances tibial growth in peripubertal female rats but not in males
M A Rol De Lama et al. Eur J Endocrinol. 2000 May.
28. Exogenous GH infusion to late-gestational fetal sheep does not alter
fetal growth and metabolism
M K Bauer, J E Harding, B H Breier and P D Gluckman
29. Long-term effects of recombinant human growth hormone treatment on skeletal maturation and growth in female rhesus monkeys with normal pituitary function
Wilson, M. E., Tanner, J. M
TLDR: its over
Height has always been something everyone dreams of, due to its impact on daily life, on a person’s psyche, and on their feeling of confidence and satisfaction with their external appearance
Therefore, most people use external human growth hormone with the aim of increasing height even if they are not deficient in growth hormone, but unfortunately most of them take it without doing any research, and without knowing the consequences that result from this decision
In this systematic review, we will reveal many studies that used growth hormone with the aim of increasing height in children/adolescents who are not deficient in growth hormone, and we will also reveal the negative effects that result from using rGh, and interestingly almost all studies either found a negative effect on final height (FAH) or neutral effects, or very minimal results after years of use
Recent studies have revealed that growth hormone can significantly increase the risk of developing type 1 diabetes by about 40%, but it also greatly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, possibly up to 6 or even 8 times (1,2), and the risk of stroke by 3-7 times, and brain hemorrhage by 5-9 times (3). In another study conducted on children treated with growth hormone and followed for twenty-five years, they found that the risk of having a stroke nearly doubled (4), and in another study it was found that the risk of heart disease increased fivefold, the risk of brain hemorrhage sevenfold, and the risk of death increased by 33% at low doses, but at high doses (50mcg/kg+) the risk of death increased threefold (5)
Therefore, it is logical, after seeing the negative effects that can literally be fatal, to be optimistic and automatically assume that growth hormone does indeed increase height if a person is not deficient in growth hormone, but I am sorry to spoil it for you and say that the opposite happens entirely. I will now review many studies that found negative effects (a reduction in final height ranging between 6-9 cm), studies that found no results, and others that reported minimal results and doesnt worth the money and the risk.
a study conducted in Japan, for a period of four and a quarter years, 9 children with idiopathic short stature and 18 others as a control group were treated. At the end of the treatment period, and when comparing the final adult height, it was found that the group that received growth hormone had a height of 154, while those who did not receive it were 162, meaning that growth hormone treatment led to a reduction of 8 cm in final height (6)
In a study that included 59 short-stature boys without GH deficiency, they were divided into three groups: 26 boys without treatment (group A), 13 boys treated with GH only (group B), and 20 boys treated with GH combined with cyproterone acetate (group C). At the end of follow-up, the average height of group A was 162.7 cm, group B 155.4 cm, and group C 161.9 cm. This means that GH alone reduced final height by about 7.3 cm, while combined treatment with cyproterone acetate reduced height by only about 0.8 cm compared to the untreated group (7)
Interestingly, the same negative effect was reported even in children with growth hormone deficiency. In a study that included 12 short-stature boys with partial or transient GH deficiency, they were treated with growth hormone for an average of 2.44 years, starting at approximately 13.1 years of age, with a control group of 12 untreated boys matched for bone age and initial height. At the end of follow-up, the average final height of the treated group was 164.15 cm, while the average final height of the untreated group was 168.87 cm, meaning that GH treatment reduced final height by about 4.7 cm compared to the control group, indicating that GH in this category does not increase final height (8)
In a study on 10 short-stature adolescents without GH deficiency, they were treated for 30 months with combined growth hormone and GnRH analogue therapy, with follow-up of 10 control children without treatment. The treatment stopped pubertal progression and suppressed sex hormones, and reduced growth rate from 6.5 to 3.9 cm/year, with a decrease in height Z-score from −2.4 to −2.6 SD, and predicted height did not improve after treatment. The average final height was 151 cm, meaning it did not exceed the predicted height before treatment. Conclusion: combined therapy does not increase final height in children without GH deficiency and is not recommended (9)
To the author’s knowledge at this time, these are the only studies that found negative effects on final height from growth hormone treatment, so we will begin by discussing the studies that found no effect, either negative or positive.
In a randomized study on 26 short-stature boys and 9 girls without GH deficiency, 17 children were treated with high-dose GH for at least two years and compared to 18 control children. Height-for-age increased from −2.6 to −1.4 SDS, but bone maturation accelerated and the treated children entered puberty early, and final height for bone age did not improve. Conclusion: prepubertal GH temporarily increases growth rate but does not improve final height and accelerates puberty (10)
In a retrospective study on 28 short-stature boys without GH deficiency, they received growth hormone treatment for at least two years until they approached final height. The results showed that the final height was very close to the predicted height before treatment, with an average bone age advancement of 4.9 years over 3.5 years of treatment, explaining the lack of effect of treatment on increasing final height (11)
In a study on 40 short-stature children without GH deficiency, aged 4–10 years at baseline, half received high-dose GH treatment (2 mg/day ≈ 75 µg/kg/day) for an average of 2.3 years, while the other group remained untreated. Results showed that height SDS temporarily increased during treatment from −2.6 to −1.3, but bone maturation accelerated significantly (1.6 years/year versus 1.0 years/year in controls) and the children entered puberty early. After a follow-up period of 3–12 years, final height was similar to the control group (−2.1 versus −1.9 SDS), and even very high doses unfortunately failed (12)
In a Japanese study that included 64 boys and 76 girls with short stature without GH deficiency, they were given standard-dose GH (0.167 mg/kg/week) before age 11, compared to a control group that did not receive treatment. The results showed that standard GH did not improve final height compared to controls (13)
A retrospective study on 71 short-stature children without GH deficiency (54 boys and 17 girls) treated with GH at a dose of 0.69 ± 0.02 IU/kg/week for 4–19 years. The results showed that GH temporarily increased growth rate, but final height remained similar to the predicted height before treatment due to accelerated bone maturation, meaning that GH did not improve final height in children without GH deficiency (14)
A study on 24 children with pituitary deficiency: 14 received hGH and 10 did not. Final height did not improve significantly with hGH (162.9 cm versus 159.5 cm) with no statistically significant difference, but they reached final height faster and the growth spurt was shorter, indicating accelerated skeletal maturation (15)
study on 15 short-stature children without GH deficiency (10 boys and 5 girls, ages 7.4–13.2 years) for 4–10 years. GH was given in two doses: 0.5 U/kg/week (7 children) and 1.0 U/kg/week (8 children). Treatment increased growth rate during the first four years, with slight acceleration in bone maturation, but did not accelerate puberty. Final height did not exceed the predicted height before treatment or the target height (16)
A study including 31 short-stature girls without GH deficiency to evaluate the effect of GH on final height, divided into three groups: no GH (11 girls), GH at 0.5 IU/kg/week (11 girls), and GH combined with cyproterone acetate 50–100 mg/m²/day during puberty (9 girls). The result showed that final height was similar between groups (151.5 ± 5.3 cm, 150.2 ± 6.4 cm, 151.2 ± 4.1 cm respectively), indicating that GH or combined with cyproterone did not improve final height (17)
To the author’s knowledge at this time, he has collected almost all studies that found no positive or negative effects, but regarding positive effects, to the author’s knowledge, there is only one study on children treated with high doses of growth hormone, and after four and a half years they found very slight increases in final height (2.5–2.8 cm) (18)
Discussion:
It appears that the effects of growth hormone on final height in individuals without GH deficiency (and even in some cases with deficiency) are mostly negative on final height, or neutral, and in very rare cases, they are very slight.
The failure of treatment is due to more than one reason. Most studies indicated that growth hormone accelerates linear growth, but advances bone age, so it has no net effect on final height. Interestingly, most authors noted that the bone age advancement is due to the direct effect of growth hormone (6,7,8,10,11,16)
Although the mechanisms are not fully understood, it is unclear how growth hormone accelerates bone maturation, a recent study indicated that growth hormone has a direct role in accelerating skeletal maturation, not only through sex hormones (19). This may be because growth hormone increases IGF-1, and IGF-1 accelerates skeletal maturation (although the mechanisms are not fully understood). In a study on monkeys and mice, they found that external IGF-1 injection only accelerated skeletal maturation without affecting bone length (20), possibly because excessive IGF-1 activity in chondrocytes drives them to differentiate more rapidly into bone cells.
Interestingly, the same results were also observed in mice, where growth hormone accelerated skeletal and sexual maturation (21)
The second reason is likely because normal individuals already secrete large amounts of growth hormone, especially in the later stages of puberty where GH rises threefold. It has been reported that pulsatile GH production (excluding basal secretion) in healthy males at the final stage of puberty ranges between 1800–2000 mcg per day, which is approximately equivalent to 5–6 international units of growth hormone (22,23). Interestingly, it is also noted that all studies administer GH via subcutaneous injection, while recent references showed that the bioavailability of subcutaneous GH injections is approximately 49% in men and 60–63% in women (23,24). This means that if 8 IU of GH are injected subcutaneously, only about 4–4.2 IU actually enter the bloodstream. In any case, this reason may be incorrect, as one study used very high doses and still found no significant improvement in final height (13)
Interestingly, it was also noted that the same results observed in humans were seen in animals, where growth hormone shortened normal mice (25). In another study, they found no effect on length, and an effect appeared only when the dose was increased thirtyfold (i.e., extremely high doses), and finally a slight effect on skeletal growth appeared, but they reported serious side effects (26). In another study, no effect was found in males, and it appeared only in females (27).
In another study, no effect on linear growth was found in sheep (28), and in a study on healthy female monkeys for four and a half years, at a dose described by the researchers as 2.5 times higher than that used in clinical studies, results similar to humans were obtained: no difference in final tibia length, while a very slight increase in spine length (~3%) was observed (29).
Summary/Conclusion:
Injecting external growth hormone does not increase height in individuals without GH deficiency, and in some cases, strong negative effects appear. If positive effects occur, they are very minimal, with risks of heart attack, brain hemorrhage, and sudden death. It is better to preserve your money and spend it on things that benefit you.
References:
1. Incidence of diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance in children and adolescents receiving growth-hormone treatment
W S Cutfield et al. Lancet. 2000
2. Prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus in GH-treated children and adolescents: analysis from the GeNeSIS observational research program
Christopher J Child et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 Jun
3. Growth hormone treatment for childhood short stature and risk of stroke in early adulthood
Amélie Poidvin et al. Neurology. 2014
4. Association of Childhood Growth Hormone Treatment With Long-term Cardiovascular Morbidity
Anders Tidblad 1,✉, Matteo Bottai 2, Helle Kieler 3, Kerstin Albertsson-Wikland 4, Lars Sävendahl 1
5. Long-term mortality after recombinant growth hormone treatment for isolated growth hormone deficiency or childhood short stature: preliminary report of the French SAGhE study
Jean-Claude Carel et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Feb
6. Unfavorable effects of growth hormone therapy on the final height of boys with short stature not caused by growth hormone deficiency
Masahiko Kawai, MD, Toru Momoi, MD. Tohru Yorifuji, Mo Chutaro Yamanaka, MD. Hiroshi Sasaki, MD, anc Kenshi Furusho, MD
From the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
7. Combination therapy with GH and cyproterone acetate does not improve final height in boys with non-GH-deficient short stature
Masahiko Kawai, Toru Momoi, Tohru Yorifuji,
Junko Muroi, Chutaro Yamanaka, Hiroshi Sasaki and Kenshi Furusho
Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan |
(Received 21 March 1997; returned for revision 21 April 1997; finally revised 20 June 1997; accepted 20 August 1997)
8. Effects of growth hormone treatment on final adult height in boys with short stature and transitory partial growth hormone deficiency
J H Brämaswig, M Fasse, …G Schellong
9. Final height after combined growth hormone and gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue therapy in short healthy children entering into normally timed puberty
Roberto Lanes, Peter Gunczler
10. High dose growth hormone treatment induces acceleration of skeletal maturation and an earlier onset of puberty in children with idiopathic short stature ; A Kamp, JJJ Waelkens, S MP F de Muinck Keizer-Schramc
I A Delemarre-van de Waal, L Verhoeven-Wind, A H Zwinderman, J M
11. Effect of growth hormone therapy on final versus predicted height in short twelve- to sixteen-year-old boys without growth hormone deficiency
Paul B. Kaplowitz, MD
From the Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versity, Richmond
12. High-dose GH treatment limited to the prepubertal period in young children with idiopathic short stature does not increase adult height
S A van Gool, G A Kamp, R J Odink, S M P F de Muinck Keizer-Schrama, H A Delemarre-van de Waat,
W Oostdijk and J M Wit
13. No Improvement of Adult Height in Non-growth Hormone
(GH) Deficient Short Children with GH Treatment
Toshiaki Tanaka' 2, Kenji Fujieda!, Susumu Yokoyal, Akira Shimatsu', Katsuhiko Tachibana', Hiroyuki Tanaka', Takakuni Tanizawa', Akira Teramoto!, Toshiro Nagai', Yoshikazu Nishi', Yukihiro Hasegawa', Kunihiko Hanew', Keinosuke Fujita', Reiko Horikawa', Goro Takada3, Masao Miyashita*, Tadashi Ohnos and Kazuo Komatsus
14. Final height in non-growth hormone deficient children treated with growth hormone
S. Bernasconi*, M. E. Street, C. Volta, G. Mazzardo and the Italian Multicentre Study Group
15. TREATMENT WITH hGH HAS NO EFFECT ON ADULT HEIGHT IN HYPOPITUITARY CHILDREN
J J Van Der Werff Ten Bosch & A Bot
16. Final height after growth hormone therapy in non-growth-hormone-deficient children with short stature
S Loche et al. J Pediatr. 1994 Aug.
17. Growth Hormone Therapy Does not Improve the Final Height of Girls with Short Stature not Caused by Growth Hormone Deficiency
18. Final height of short normal children treated with growth hormone
19. Effects of estrogen on growth plate senescence and epiphyseal fusion
Martina Weise, Stacy De-Levi, Kevin M. Barnes, +2 , and Jeffrey Baron
20. Administration of IGF-I affects the GH axis and adolescent growth in normal monkeys
M E Wilson
Yerkes Primate Research Center of Emory University, Field Station, 2409 Taylor Lane, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30243 USA (Requests for offprints should be addressed to ME Wilson, Yerkes Primate Research Center of Emory University, 2409 Taylor Lane, Lawrenceville, Georgia
21. Effects of Recombinant Human Growth Hormone on the Onset of Puberty, Leydig Cell Differentiation, Spermatogenesis and Hypothalamic KISS1 Expression in Immature Male Rats
Kyoung Huh,1,* Won Heun Nah,2,* Yang Xu,2 Mi Jung Park,1 and Myung Chan Gye
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J D Veldhuis et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2000 Jul.
23. Endogenous growth hormone secretion and clearance rates in normal boys, as determined by deconvolution analysis: relationship to age, pubertal status, and body mass
P M Martha Jr et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1992 Feb.
24. The absorption profile and availability of a physiological subcutaneously administered dose of recombinant human growth hormone (GH) in adults with GH deficiency
Y J H Janssen 1, M Frölich 2, F Roelfsema 1
25. Growth retardation--an unexpected outcome from growth hormone gene therapy in normal mice with microencapsulated myoblasts
A Al-Hendy et al. Hum Gene Ther. 1996 Jan
26. Effect of exogenous growth hormone on somatic growth, gonadal development, and hepatic CYP2C11 and CYP2C12 expression in prepubertal intact male rats
27. Recombinant human growth hormone enhances tibial growth in peripubertal female rats but not in males
M A Rol De Lama et al. Eur J Endocrinol. 2000 May.
28. Exogenous GH infusion to late-gestational fetal sheep does not alter
fetal growth and metabolism
M K Bauer, J E Harding, B H Breier and P D Gluckman
29. Long-term effects of recombinant human growth hormone treatment on skeletal maturation and growth in female rhesus monkeys with normal pituitary function
Wilson, M. E., Tanner, J. M
TLDR: its over
