Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Children Treated with Growth Hormone: A Follow-Up Study over Three Years.

Background: There is an ongoing discussion whether high doses of growth hormone (GH) may lead to cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, we studied the longitudinal relationships between GH treatment and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), which is predictive of the development of atherosclerosis.

Methods: We measured blood pressure, lipids, hemoglobin HbA1c, IGF-1, IGFBP-3, and cIMT in 28 children treated with supraphysiological doses of GH (mean age 9.8 ± 2.2 years, 39% males) and 36 children suffering from GH deficiency (GHD) and treated with physiological doses of GH (mean age 9.7 ± 2.2 years, 72% males) in a longitudinal study over 3 years.

Results: The cIMT values did not change significantly in the observation period in children with GHD (Δmaximum and Δmean cIMT 0.0 ± 0.1 mm). The mean (+0.1 ± 0.1 mm) but not the maximum cIMT (0.0 ± 0.1 mm) increased significantly (p = 0.049) in the children treated with supraphysiological doses of GH. Blood pressure, lipids, and HbA1c were not related to cIMT, while IGF-1, IGFBP-3, body mass index expressed as a standard deviation score, and treatment duration correlated significantly with cIMT.

Conclusions: We did not find any robust evidence that GH treatment is associated with changes in cIMT. Further studies are necessary to analyze the impact of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 concentrations on cIMT.