Placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over trial of growth hormone treatment in prepubertal children with chronic renal failure

Stunted growth is a serious problem for children with chronic renal failure (CRF) despite normal endogenous growth hormone secretion and normal or elevated plasma concentrations of insulin-like growth factors (IGF) I and II. Biosynthetic growth hormone (GH) was given to 20 prepubertal children (eleven boys, nine girls; mean age 9·5 years, range 4-16) with CRF and severe growth retardation in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over trial. 6 months of subcutaneous injection of GH (4 IU/m 2 per day) was either preceded or followed by 6 months of placebo injection. The patients had a full examination every 3 months. Sixteen children completed the study. Height velocity improved significantly with GH therapy (p