Treating healthy children who are relatively short with growth hormone to give them a few extra inches in height has no effect on their self-esteem or quality of life.
Researchers found that children who were given growth hormone experienced no change in their sense of self-esteem or their quality of life for up to 2 years after they received the treatment.
Some studies have suggested that children who are short for their ages have certain psychological and social problems as a result, perhaps from being treated as younger than they are, or from the limitations their height places on sports and other play activities.
In response, researchers have developed a "treatment" for otherwise healthy kids with short stature, during which they receive growth hormone, which can add between 1 and 4 inches in height.
The investigators found that the short children who participated in this study did not appear to have lower self-esteem than their peers, but did seem to have slightly less ability in social functioning.
Despite the increase in growth, kids treated with growth hormone did not report any change in their self-esteem over the treatment period, and neither did their parents. The pediatricians, however, did note that they suspected some growth hormone-treated children did improve their attitudes over the course of therapy.
Growth hormone treatment for shorter than average children -- which can cost up to $30,000 a year -- may not help youngsters feel good about themselves, and, in some cases, may make them feel worse.
In children who have no underlying disorder that is causing their short stature, growth hormone can have widely differing effects on their height. With the variability and unpredictability of results for any particular child, growth hormone therapy becomes an intervention that may be more detrimental than the original complaint of short stature.
Journal of Pediatrics May 2002;140:493-495, 507-515
This study suggests there are no positive effects on self-esteem with growth hormome treatment. Another strike against such treatments, largely ignored in the traditional paradigm, is the psychological trauma children are subject to with blood draws and needle sticks. I regularly see the consequences of this in my office. Several years ago I stopped all routine blood draws on children below the age of ten or so unless they were highly cooperative. Occasionally, because the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, I will administer IV secretin for autistic children.
In the growth hormone study, I suspect both the trauma from the injections and the attitude of the parent's regarding their child's short stature were significant factors in the researchers observations.