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How can growth hormone treatment help children with pituitary growth hormone deficiency?

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Infographic showing estimated lives saved by childhood vaccinations worldwide from 1974 to 2024, with syringe-shaped bars for each disease. Measles tops the list at 93.71 million lives saved, followed by tetanus, whooping cough, and others, for a total of 153.84 million lives saved. — childhood disease and disorder Vaccines and the estimates of lives saved over the period 1974–2024.

For children diagnosed with pituitary growth hormone (GH) deficiency, treatment primarily involves regular injections of biosynthetic human growth hormone.12

This therapeutic approach is highly effective because it replaces the hormone that the body is failing to produce or secrete in sufficient quantities. By providing this exogenous GH, the treatment stimulates the body’s tissues—including bone—to grow, which helps children with growth retardation achieve a height that is often close to their anticipated range.12

The development of this treatment was made possible through recombinant DNA technology, which allows for a safe and virtually unlimited supply of the hormone, replacing older methods that carried risks of contamination. While most children respond well to these injections, some individuals—particularly those with a hereditary inability to synthesize GH—may develop antibodies that can interfere with the treatment's effectiveness.1