Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 6, 2023; 11(28): 6715-6724
Published online Oct 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i28.6715
Effects of different doses of long-acting growth hormone in treating children with growth hormone deficiency
Wei Xia, Ting Wang, Jia-Yan Pan
Wei Xia, Ting Wang, Department of Pediatrics, The First People's Hospital of Wuhu, Wuhu 241000, Anhui Province, China
Jia-Yan Pan, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, The First People's Hospital of Wuhu, Wuhu 241000, Anhui Province, China
Author contributions: Pan JY contributed to the conceptualization, methodology, data analysis and software of the study, and supervised the study; Xia W contributed to validation of the study; Pan JY and Xia W analyzed the data; Ting Wang T contributed to resources; Xia W collected the data; Pan JY drafted the manuscript; Xia W reviewed and edited the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by Institutional Review Board of Wuhu No. 1 People's hospital (Approval No. WHSDYRMYY-26).
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jia-Yan Pan, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, The First People's Hospital of Wuhu, No. 1 Chizhu Shandong Road, Jiujiang District, Wuhu 241000, Anhui Province, China. jiayanpanvxv@163.com
Received: July 12, 2023
Peer-review started: July 12, 2023
First decision: August 2, 2023
Revised: August 3, 2023
Accepted: September 4, 2023
Article in press: September 4, 2023
Published online: October 6, 2023
Processing time: 75 Days and 7.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

With the improvement of economy and living standards, the attention paid to short stature in children has been increasingly highlighted. Numerous causes can lead to short stature in children, among which growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a significant factor.

AIM

To investigate the long-term efficacy and safety of different doses of long-acting polyethylene glycol recombinant human growth hormone (PEG-rhGH) in the treatment of GHD in children.

METHODS

We selected 44 pediatric patients diagnosed with GHD who were treated at Wuhu First People's Hospital from 2014 to 2018. Total 23 patients were administered a high dose of long-acting PEG-rhGH at 0.2 mg/kg subcutaneously each week, forming the high-dose group. Meanwhile, 21 patients were given a lower dose of long-acting PEG-rhGH at 0.14 mg/kg subcutaneously each week, establishing the low-dose Group. The total treatment period was 2 years, during which we monitored the patients’ height, annual growth velocity (GV), height standard deviation score (HtSDS), chronological age (CA), bone age (BA), and serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) before treatment and at 6 mo, 1 year, and 2 years after treatment initiation. We also monitored thyroid function, fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin, and other side effects. Furthermore, we calculated the homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance.

RESULTS

After 1 year of treatment, the GV, HtSDS, IGF-1, BA, and IGFBP-3 in both groups significantly improved compared to the pre-treatment levels (P < 0.05). Moreover, when comparing GV, HtSDS, IGF-1, BA, and IGFBP-3 between the two groups, there were no statistically significant differences either before or after the treatment (P > 0.05). During the treatment intervals of 0-1.0 years and 1.0-2.0 years, both patient groups experienced a slowdown in GV and a decline in HtSDS improvement (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The use of PEG-rhGH in treating GHD patients was confirmed to be effective, with similar outcomes observed in both the high-dose group and low-dose groups, and no significant differences in the main side effects.

Keywords: Children; Growth hormone deficiency; Polyethylene glycol recombinant human growth hormone; Different doses; Bone age

Core Tip: The lack of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) can lead to short stature in children, and our study explored the long-term efficacy and safety of different doses of long-acting polyethylene glycol recombinant human growth hormone (PEG-rhGH) in the treatment of GHD in children. Our study demonstrates that PEG-rhGH can be initiated at a low dosage, reducing the overall medical costs for patients and providing theoretical support for the clinical use of PEG-rhGH.