NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Growth hormone is associated with a decrease in fractures in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis even a decade after treatment ceases, researchers from Sweden report.
“We were surprised and pleased to find that the patients had a reduced risk of fracture so many years after the growth hormone treatment was ceased,” Dr. Emily Krantz, from Sodra Alvsborgs Hospital, Boras, Sweden, told Reuters Health by email.
“We were also surprised that quality of life (QoL) was constant throughout the entire follow-up time for all the treatment groups and that there was no difference between the patients and the control group,” she said.
In an earlier study of women with postmenopausal osteoporosis who received growth hormone for three years, bone mineral content improved and remained 14% higher one year after growth hormone was terminated.