Growth hormone is overused

Long term treatment with growth hormone has no clear cut benefit in large proportions of patients treated for so called idiopathic isolated growth hormone deficiency. Carel and colleagues (p 70) present data from 2852 French children diagnosed and treated for isolated growth hormone deficiency. The effect of growth hormone is unclear, they say, and most patients diagnosed as having growth hormone deficiency actually have pubertal delay and a spontaneous growth potential. An editorial by Saenger (p 58) highlights the difficulties in diagnosing and treating growth hormone deficiency.

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