E. Vihervuori et al., INCREASES IN HEMOGLOBIN CONCENTRATION AND IRON NEEDS IN RESPONSE TO GROWTH-HORMONE TREATMENT, The Journal of pediatrics, 125(2), 1994, pp. 242-245
We studied 36 children with short stature during the initial 6 months
of recombinant human growth hormone treatment and found an elevation i
n the mean concentration of hemoglobin (p <0.001). The elevation was h
ighest in the eight patients with bone dysplasia (p <0.001). The mean
concentration of serum ferritin decreased (p <0.01) and that of serum
transferrin increased (p <0.001). The prevalence of iron deficiency in
creased from 6 patients (17%) with initial deficiency to 20 (56%) pati
ents after therapy, indicating that iron supplementation should be con
sidered in children treated with recombinant human growth hormone.