If a child is born with an insufficient amount of growth hor

If a child is born with an insufficient amount of growth hormone, he or she will develop dwarfism. Do you think that such a child should be given supplemental growth hormone? What are the physical and ethical issues involved?

Solution

Growth hormone deficiency leads to dwarfism where insufficient amounts of growth hormone are produced in the body. Children with this hormone deficiency have abnormally short stature with normal body proportions. The condition occurs when pituitary gland makes too little growth hormone.

Some of the cases with growth hormone deficiency can be treated with the use of synthetic growth hormone but under the strict supervision of an endocrinologist.

Growth hormone therapy in children with small stature is a subject of great ethical debate. The benefits of GH therapy in children may or may not provide the means to overcome the physical or psychological impact of being short. The studies on this show individual variability in growth response. Not all children achieve the height above the baseline and these small gains in height do not impact the child adequately to justify the expense for this therapy. Growth hormone injections for the treatment require thoughtful consideration by the patient and parents.