Sustained adherence to growth hormone therapy boosts growth outcomes in children

Children maintaining a sustained adherence rate of at least 85 percent to daily growth hormone therapy see a clinically meaningful improvement in growth over 2 years, as shown in a retrospective study.

The study involved children with growth disorder who received at least one daily growth hormone therapy and were tracked for at least 2 years after treatment initiation. Adherence over 2 years of treatment was categorized as low adherence (<85 percent), high adherence (85 percent to 110 percent), and adherent (>110 percent).

A total of 74 participants were included, of which 11 were adherent (mean age 12.37, 73 percent male) to daily growth hormone therapy, 56 had high adherence (mean age 9.57 years, 63 percent male), and seven had low adherence (mean age 11.88 years, 100 percent male).

Researchers measured the change in height standard deviation score (HSDS) over 2 years as the main outcome. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and a general linear regression model were used in the analyses.

Mean change in the HSDS over 2 years of treatment was 0.87 in the high adherence group and 0.33 in the low adherence group, with the absolute difference of 0.54 being statistically significant (p<0.01). This result was confirmed in linear regression models, with an absolute difference in mean change in HSDS of 0.44 between the high and low adherence groups (p=0.03).

The mean change in HSDS from in the adherent group was 0.79.