Growth Hormone Helps HIV Patients

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study shows increasing growth-hormone levels may help HIV patients with a condition known as lipodystrophy.

Lipodystrophy causes an uneven distribution of fat throughout the body. Patients often lose fat in their face, arms and legs, but gain fat in their stomach and upper back. More than half of HIV patients who undergo highly active antiretroviral therapy may develop the condition.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston studied more than 30 men with HIV lipodystrophy to determine if boosting low growth-hormone levels could improve symptoms. Participants injected themselves twice a day with either growth hormone or a placebo.

Results show men who received the growth-hormone injections had better growth-hormone production and regulation. In addition, their body compositions returned to a more normal pattern with less fat deposited deep within the abdomen.

Researchers say although patients injected with growth hormone did not show a significant decrease in total fat mass, they did show an increase in lean body mass.

One side effect of growth hormone is insulin resistance. However, the growth-hormone injections administered in this study did not change patients’ blood sugar levels. Researchers say cholesterol and triglyceride levels also stayed the same for these patients.

“This study is an initial proof of principal that augmenting low growth hormone levels in this way has the potential to reverse the abnormal body composition seen in these individuals,” researchers conclude.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: The International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, July 11-16, 2004