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Clinical and Legal Issues

Thomas T. Perls, MD, MPH; Neal R. Reisman, MD, JD; S. Jay Olshansky, PhD

JAMA. 2005;294:2086-2090.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The distribution and marketing of human growth hormone (HGH or GH) via Web sites and antiaging clinics has grown into a multimillion-dollar antiaging industry.^1-4 Despite congressional hearings warning of deceptive marketing claims and the potential health and economic dangers associated with the antiaging industry,^5-6 and statements issued by the National Institute on Aging^7-9 and the Federal Trade Commission,¹⁰ the distribution and use of GH for antiaging is now common. For example, entering the terms "HGH" and "anti-aging" into the Google search engine generated 3 410 000 hits as of September 26, 2005, many representing Web sites and clinics marketing and selling GH.

Worldwide annual sales of GH are estimated to be $1.5 to $2 billion.^{4, 11} Vance¹² has suggested that 30% of GH prescriptions in the United States are for indications not approved by the Food and Drug Administration . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Clinical Effects of GH

Author Affiliations: Geriatrics Section, Department of Medicine, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass (Dr Perls); Department of Plastic Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, and St Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Tex (Dr Reisman); School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Ill (Dr Olshansky).

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