A study recently published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology reports that children who received growth hormone treatments had a more than eightfold increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with a group of children in the general population.
The study indicates that growth hormone can interfere with insulin activity, but did not conclude that growth hormone therapy was responsible for the increased diabetes risk, only that there is a connection between the two
The study was based on research by researchers at Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of the growth hormone Humatrope.
Reuters Health reported: “According to the National Institutes of Health, about 8 out of every 100,000 kids aged 10 to 19 are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes each year. For comparison, the rate seen in the kids on growth hormone represents 100 out of every 100,000.”
Sources:
- Kerry Grens. Reuters Health, May 13, 2011. Growth hormone treatment tied to diabetes in kids.
- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. April 13, 2001. Prevalence and Incidence of Diabetes Mellitus in GH-Treated Children and Adolescents: Analysis from the GeNeSIS Observational Research Program
