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Review
. 2024 Dec 24;12(1):3.
doi: 10.3390/children12010003.

GH Therapy in Non-Growth Hormone-Deficient Children

Chiara Guzzetti  1 , Anastasia Ibba  1 , Valeria Incandela  1 , Sandro Loche  2
Affiliations
Review

GH Therapy in Non-Growth Hormone-Deficient Children

Chiara Guzzetti et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Before 1985, growth hormone (GH) was extracted from human pituitaries, and its therapeutic use was limited to children with severe GH deficiency (GHD). The availability of an unlimited amount of recombinant GH (rhGH) allowed for investigating the efficacy of its therapeutic use in a number of conditions other than GHD. Nowadays, patients with Turner syndrome, SHOX deficiency, Noonan syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, idiopathic short stature, chronic kidney disease, and children born small for gestational age can be treated with rhGH in order to improve adult height. In patients with Prader-Willi syndrome, rhGH therapy also improves body composition and cognitive function. Large post-marketing multinational studies in a large number of pediatric patients demonstrated a good safety profile for rhGH. Recently, long-acting formulations of rhGH have been approved and licensed for GHD, and clinical trials are ongoing for other conditions. In this paper, we review the rhGH therapy in children with conditions other than GHD.

Keywords: Noonan syndrome; Prader–Willi syndrome; SHOX deficiency; Turner syndrome; children; chronic kidney disease; growth hormone; idiopathic short stature; long-acting growth hormone; small for gestational age.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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