Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review

Growth Hormone in Aging

In: Endotext [Internet]. South Dartmouth (MA): MDText.com, Inc.; 2000.
.
Affiliations
Free Books & Documents
Review

Growth Hormone in Aging

Jose M Garcia et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Growth hormone (GH) serves important roles in adult life, including maintenance of lean body mass and bone mass, promoting lipolysis, thereby limiting visceral adiposity, and regulating carbohydrate metabolism, cardiovascular system function, aerobic exercise capacity, and cognitive function. Younger adults with growth hormone deficiency (AGHD) exhibit abnormalities in body composition, physical and cognitive function, and quality of life which are reversed by GH replacement therapy. With advancing age GH production declines, paralleled by physical and functional alterations similar to those of AGHD; however, the degree to which the decrease in GH contributes to these age-related changes is unknown. Seemingly in opposition to the theory that the diminished GH secretion of older age is a net detriment are observations that animal models of congenital GH deficiency have remarkably increased life span and humans with congenital GH deficiency may have decreased rates of age-related diseases such as diabetes and cancer. Several short-term studies aiming to increase GH in older adults by a variety of interventions including exercise, administration of GH, or treatment with GH secretagogues have demonstrated consistent effects to improve body composition, yet inconsistent effects on physical and cognitive function. While side effects of GH administration in older adults include edema, arthralgias, and elevated blood glucose, data regarding the possible long-term effects on “hard end points” such as risk of fractures, cancer, cardiovascular disease, life expectancy, and mortality are lacking. For complete coverage of all related areas of Endocrinology, please visit our on-line FREE web-text, WWW.ENDOTEXT.ORG.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Sattler FR. Growth hormone in the aging male. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013;27(4):51–55. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anawalt BD, Merriam GR. Neuroendocrine aging in men: andropause and somatopause. Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America. 2001;30:647–69. - PubMed
    1. Merriam GR, Hersch EC. Growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone and GH secretagogues in normal aging: Fountain of Youth or Pool of Tantalus? Clin Interv Aging. 2008;3(1):121–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ho KY, Evans WS, Blizzard RM, Velduis JD, Merriam GR, Samojlik R, Furlanetto R, Rogol AD, Kaiser DL, Thorner MO. Effects of sex and age on the 24 hour profile of growth hormone secretion in man: Importance of endogenous estradiol concentrations. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1987;64:51–8. - PubMed
    1. Maheshwari H, Sharma L, Baumann G. Decline of plasma growth hormone binding protein in old age. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1996 Mar;81(3):995–7. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources