Clinical uses of growth hormone in older people.

Many of the age-related changes in body composition resemble those associated with growth hormone deficiency, and growth hormone secretion decreases with normal human ageing. With the availability of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH), it is now possible to test the metabolic and structural effects of growth hormone administration to adults. Administration of rhGH to healthy elderly people acutely promotes nitrogen retention and activates bone remodelling. Chronic administration may increase lean mass in men, but appears to give less impressive results in women. Changes in bone remodelling are not accompanied by dramatic increases in bone mass. Thus, it is not likely that daily administration of rhGH as a single agent will prove to be an effective means for regaining deficits in bone, but it may be possible to incorporate rhGH into a multi-agent strategy. In healthy older humans growth hormone can be given without obvious adverse effects on cardiovascular risk factors.