Reply to Delayed puberty and growth hormone injections

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a pediatrician, I don't know why anyone would recommend growth hormone injections for constitutional growth delay. It's just delayed puberty -- CGD itself doesn't have any effect on final height. They just reach it later.

Are you sure you don't mean "familial short stature?"[/quote]

If it’s delayed puberty won’t he get a growth spurt later?   My brother left high school at 5’10” and soon after got to his full height of 6’2”.   [/quote]

He will. It just means that his "constitution" is programmed to hit the growth spurt later, and usually one or both of his parents did the same. But it's not a deficiency of growth hormone or even of adult height.

More information is coming out about the risks of additional growth hormone over and above normal levels (not really relevant to true growth hormone or pituitary deficiency, which are separate diagnoses from constitutional growth delay). This issue isn't settled yet, but GH isn't without risks. And if the child is going to reach normal height, just later, I'm not sure why someone would pursue this.

https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20140813/children-prescribed-growth-hormone-may-face-stroke-risk-later-study
Children, Growth Hormone, & Possible Risk Later

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/29/well/live/growth-hormones-short-children-height.html
Weighing the Use of Growth Hormones for Children: New research has linked growth hormone treatment to serious adverse health effects years later[/quote]

I also think puberty blockers for early puberty have their own risks and have decided not to give to my kids, they are normal height, though short. [/quote]

Those articles are about daily growth hormone shots to increase height NOT about puberty blockers.

Puberty blockers have no long term problems used for precocious puberty.  They have possible long term effects is used after 12 years old to block normal puberty for trans kids. [/quote]

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