Until now, the use of growth hormone authorized in Spain to treat five specific pathologies was known.
For children with Turner syndrome, Prader-Willy syndrome, growth hormone deficit, delayed intrauterine growth and chronic renal failure.
But a new study of the Endocrinology Service of the Ramón y Cajal Hospital opens the way to new uses of growth hormone to treat children with idiomatic short stature, that is whose cause is unknown.
According to scientists, the use of the hormone has achieved an increase of five centimeters compared to those who do not take it, and in a safe way because in those cases it has no adverse effects.
It could be a great hope for children whose height is less than normal in which it can be expected that they will measure less than the average and in those cases in which a specific cause cannot be determined.
Interestingly, the children who responded best to the treatment were those whose parents had a normal size.
The only drawback is its price, which is very expensive.
A year of treatment can cost about nine thousand euros that come out of the pocket of families, since not being recognized for use in the European Union, it is not covered by Social Security.
