A web-based survey assessing the impact of storage flexibility on the daily life of patients and caregivers administering growth hormone

<div><p>Many growth hormone (GH) products require refrigeration after first use or reconstitution. This may reduce adherence by affecting patients’ daily activities. Persistent treatment adherence is essential for effective GH therapy. A web-based survey was used to compare the impact of storage-flexible GH products (stable at room temperature [<25°C] for up to 21 days after first use) with refrigeration-only GH products on patients’ and caregivers’ daily lives. Compared with refrigeration-only GH products, storage-flexible GH products were associated with shorter injection times, greater adherence, less GH wastage and fewer missed activities due to difficulties with injection, and were the preferred type of GH product. When offered a choice of GH product, the majority of patients chose a storage-flexible product.</p></div

What is the evidence for beneficial effects of growth hormone treatment beyond height in short children born small for gestational age? A review of published literature.

Background: An increasing body of evidence supports the view that both an adverse intrauterine milieu and rapid postnatal weight gain in children born small for gestational age (SGA) contribute towards the risk for the development of chronic diseases in adult life

Growth hormone stimulates the collagen synthesis in human tendon and skeletal muscle without affecting myofibrillar protein synthesis

In skeletal muscle and tendon the extracellular matrix confers important tensile properties and is crucially important for tissue regeneration after injury. Musculoskeletal tissue adaptation is influenced by mechanical loading, which modulates the availability of growth factors, including growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), which may be of key importance. To test the hypothesis that GH promotes matrix collagen synthesis in musculotendinous tissue, we investigated the effects of 14 day administration of 33–50 μg kg−1 day−1 recombinant human GH (rhGH) in healthy young individuals. rhGH administration caused an increase in serum GH, serum IGF-I, and IGF-I mRNA expression in tendon and muscle. Tendon collagen I mRNA expression and tendon collagen protein synthesis increased by 3.9-fold and 1.3-fold, respectively (P < 0.01 and P= 0.02), and muscle collagen I mRNA expression and muscle collagen protein synthesis increased by 2.3-fold and 5.8-fold, respectively (P < 0.01 and P= 0.06). Myofibrillar protein synthesis was unaffected by elevation of GH and IGF-I. Moderate exercise did not enhance the effects of GH manipulation. Thus, increased GH availability stimulates matrix collagen synthesis in skeletal muscle and tendon, but without any effect upon myofibrillar protein synthesis. The results suggest that GH is more important in strengthening the matrix tissue than for muscle cell hypertrophy in adult human musculotendinous tissue