Overall, growth hormone is a relatively safe drug with few side effects or adverse reactions if the drug is administered in strict accordance with the drug’s instructions and indications.
If side effects or adverse reactions occur after the drug is administered, they are mainly related to the dose of the drug used. In a normal human body, growth hormone is naturally secreted by the body and is sufficient for physical growth. When treating growth hormone deficiency, we use small dose replacement therapy, i.e., how much is lacking to make up for the deficiency, replacing the normal physiological needs of the body with drugs. This dose is basically safe. If it is used for the treatment of non-growth hormone deficiency, such as idiopathic dwarfism, Turner syndrome, etc., the side effects will become apparent when the dose used is relatively larger or the duration of medication is longer.
The most common side effect of growth hormone is an increase in blood sugar. Some diseases that cause too much growth hormone in the body, such as gigantism and acromegaly, have abnormal glucose metabolism, resulting in elevated blood sugar. When using growth hormone replacement therapy, if the drug dose is high, it may also cause abnormal glucose metabolism and in severe cases, type 2 diabetes may develop. However, there are individual differences and this may be related to family history.
In the past, the second common side effect was local skin reactions such as local itching, redness and swelling, mostly seen with some early drugs. However, today, as the purity of growth hormone preparations is getting higher and higher, the quality of domestic preparations is getting better. These local reactions are almost gone. Some children may experience local pain after injection, which is mainly related to psychological factors and can be tolerated.
The third common side effect is pseudotumor cerebri. The child will have headache and increased cranial pressure after the injection. These symptoms will disappear when the drug is discontinued. For this condition, parents should be reminded to take their children for regular review and to go to the hospital in case of discomfort.
The fourth side effect is joint slippage. This is a very rare condition, mainly related to the accelerated growth of the child after the use of the drug. Other issues that parents are more concerned about and pay more attention to include the fact that growth hormone can promote cell proliferation and division, which may induce tumors or recurrence. However, from the use of our hospital and the large amount of international statistics, the incidence of tumors does not increase significantly due to the use of growth hormone.
In addition, some children may experience pain in their limbs due to accelerated growth, especially occurring in the afternoon. We call this growing pains and it is a normal condition. We have also encountered some children in our clinic who were found to have some scoliosis in their spine after using the drug. Our analysis revealed that these children had less obvious congenital deformities and scoliosis in their spine before the growth hormone injection. However, the doctors did not examine them carefully before treatment. As the height increased, the problem came to the fore and the parents noticed it and assumed it was a side effect of the drug. In fact, the two are not related.