Taking Growth Hormone in Childhood Increases Risk of Stroke during Later Years: Study
Intake of human growth hormone during childhood elevates the risk of stroke in adulthood, according to a study.
Human growth hormones (HGH) like steroids are given to promote body growth, improve height and physique and also counter-balance hormonal deficiency. But, a new European research opposes against giving HGH to children citing it can lead to strokes and ruptured blood vessels during later years, reports the Fox News.
The study examined stroke rates and looked at questionnaires on HGH use in 6,484 children living in France and the U.K. The participants were followed for almost 17 years and nearly 11 of them had strokes at the time of their treatment.
The overall risk rate was 7.5 percent more among children treated with HGH and 73 percent of them had hemorrhagic stroke.
Although the odds of developing the deadly condition are low, experts warn people about the massive damage they are exposed to by regularly receiving HGH. So far, scientific studies have not confirmed a direct link between health problems and usage of HGH. However, the current findings highlight the potential risk of premature deaths resulting from heart and blood diseases. The study also suggests people who naturally produce too HGH have higher odds of developing aneurysms and hemorrhagic strokes caused by brain bleeds.
"What the study shows is that the treatment was associated with the increase in the risk, as opposed to not having the treatment. But we know there may be some kind of association. There's not really any preventive treatment for this type of brain bleed," said Rebecca Ichord, the director of the Pediatric Stroke Program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia wrote in an editorial accompanying the study, reports the Fox News.
The authors urge people to consider the dangers they are exposed to before blindly taking steroids and growth hormones to achieve a pleasing personality. They add further investigation is needed.
More information is available online in the journal Neurology.
