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[뉴스투데이=강희성 선임기자] Recently, it can be felt that the number of parents who are interested in their children’s height has increased significantly with the recognition that appearance is also competitive.
In the past, children who were expected to be more than 10 cm taller than their peers or who had precocious puberty or diseases that hinder growth visited the growth clinic. The number of applications has increased significantly.
When visiting the hospital, they come to the hospital with the determination to do anything as long as they are tall, but when they hear the test results and decide on treatment, you can see that everyone is hesitant. The fear that the children will have to get injections and the fear of the side effects of growth hormone treatment causes parents to feel nervous in the office for a while.
What are the side effects of growth hormone therapy?
“The side effects of growth hormone treatment can be divided into short-term side effects and long-term side effects that occur at the beginning of treatment,” said Dr. The most common early side effects are muscle pain and joint pain. It is a phenomenon that occurs due to the sagging of the periosteum along with bone growth. There are children who can’t sleep because of the discomfort in severe cases, but these severe cases are very rare and the symptoms disappear following taking the medicine for a few days.”
Also, there are children who report headaches due to a temporary increase in intracranial pressure, but most of them are mild. These symptoms will also improve soon following treatment is stopped. There are other concerns regarding dislocation of the femoral head, but it is rarely seen in clinical practice. The most well-known side effect associated with long-term treatment with growth hormone is hypothyroidism. The side effects associated with hypothyroidism are a study of children receiving long-term growth hormone treatment, but regular examinations are also necessary for children receiving short-term treatment.
Research on growth hormone therapy and cancer has been ongoing for a long time. Currently, some cases of association with meningioma have been reported in cases of long-term treatment. Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US FDA report that there is no connection to leukemia, which is easily found on the Internet. Aside from these short- and long-term side effects, another problem that parents worry regarding is acromegaly.
However, acromegaly does not occur if the treatment dose and timing are well adhered to. Caution should be exercised if, for any reason, treatment must be maintained until the growth plate is almost closed. However, there is no need to worry because the growth plates are sufficiently open from the 3rd or 4th grades of elementary school to the 1st grade of middle school for girls and 1st and 2nd grades for boys.
Yonsei Saebom Clinic Director Chae Jung-hyun
As a final request, Dr. Chae Yong-hyun said, “The most fearful part of treatment is not knowing what kind of side effects may occur. If you know what kind of side effects will occur, it is not something to be afraid of because you can take precautions and prevent them. Avoid administering unnecessary treatment to the child. However, even if it is necessary treatment, it is even more important to avoid missing the treatment time because of one’s worries.”
