Carotid intima-media thickness in children treated with growth hormone

Abstract

AbstractThere is an ongoing discussion whether high doses of growth hormone (GH) may lead to cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, we studied the relationships between GH treatment and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), which is predictive of the development of atherosclerosis.We measured cIMT in 38 children with supraphysiological doses of GH (mean age 10.9±2.2 years; 47% male; GH indication: small for gestational age, n=31; Turner syndrome, n=5;The cIMT levels did not differ significantly between children with and without GH treatment either in high-dose GH treatment or in physiological GH doses. In backwards linear regression analyses, cIMT was significantly related to HbAWe found no evidence that GH treatment is associated with changes in cIMT.