Growth Hormone for “Antiaging”—Reply
- Thomas Perls, MD, MPH
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thperls@bu.edu
Boston University Medical Center
Boston, Mass
- Neal R. Reisman, JD, MD
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Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Tex
- S. Jay Olshansky, PhD
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University of Illinois
Chicago
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
In Reply: Drs Hertoghe and Schuder and Drs Dalle and Claude do not contest the primary and most important point of our article: that it is illegal in the United States to distribute or provide GH for “antiaging” purposes. They use the terms “elderly GHD” and “GH deficiency.” We are concerned that patients are led to believe that they have adult growth hormone deficiency (AGHD) and then are provided with GH inappropriately, when the clinical requirements for this diagnosis1 have not been met. The package inserts for GH state unambiguously that to make a diagnosis of AGHD that satisfies FDA criteria, both a specific pathology involving the anterior pituitary gland and a defined lack of a response to a stimulation test are required. We thank Dr Sauter for pointing out that in 2004 the FDA approved GH for intestinal failure.
We mentioned GH pills and sprays because the lay …
