Metabolic effects of human growth hormone in corticosteroid-treated children.

The effects of administered human growth hormone (HGH) were evaluated in dwarfed, prepubertal children who were receiving long-term corticosteroid therapy for a chronic disease. During 11 complete metabolic balance studies, the eight corticosteroid-treated children demonstrated impaired response to large doses of HGH with minimal nitrogen and no phosphorus retention. In contrast, two hypopituitary subjects and two asthmatic children not receiving corticosteroid responded to the same preparations of HGH with nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus retention. Six corticosteroid-treated children were given large doses of HGH (40-120 mg/wk for 4 to 8 months and showed no improvement in their retarded rate of growth, whereas the hypopituitary subjects showed accelerated growth during administration of 10-15 mg of HGH/wk. It is concluded that dwarfism in steroid-treated children results from corticosteroid-induced antagonism of the effects of HGH at the peripheral tissue level.