News - ENDO: Fibromyalgia Responds to Growth Hormone Treatment

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ENDO: Fibromyalgia Responds to Growth Hormone Treatment

By a Moyer

Special to DG News

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- June 20, 2002 -- Patients with fibromyalgia get relief

from many of their symptoms when they are treated with growth hormone

therapy.

" This illness definitely has an endocrine component, " said Alfonso

Leal-Cerro, MD, who presented these findings at the 84th annual meeting of

the Endocrine Society.

" We had previously found that a high number of patients with fibromyalgia

have low levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 [iGF-1], " explained Dr.

Leal-Cerro, lead investigator on the study and professor of endocrinology at

the Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio in Seville, Spain. " Therefore,

we wanted to see if growth hormone administration would be effective at

addressing their symptoms. "

His team randomised 20 women with both fibromyalgia and IGF-1 lower than 125

ng/mL to injections of growth hormone (GH) or to placebo in a double-blind

fashion. After six months, they entered an open label phase for 12 months.

The treatment group received an initial GH dose of 0.13 mg/day (0.4 IU); the

dose could be titrated up to .66 mg (2 IU) daily. The women assessed their

morning stiffness and pain, andfibromyalgic tender points at baseline and at

3, 6, 9, and 12 months of treatment. Weight and waist-to-hip ratios were

also obtained, and patients responded to a general quality-of-life

questionnaire.

The treatment group had sustained elevations of IGF-1 levels throughout the

study and reported significantly less morning stiffness and pain at six

months than at baseline (p<0.02 and p<0.04, respectively). The treatment

group also had fewer fibromyalgic tender points than controls (p<0.04).

These results continued at 12 months (p<0.05 for stiffness, p<0.01 for pain,

p<0.01 for tender points).

The placebo group had significantly less morning stiffness and fewer

fibromyalgic tender points at six and 12 months than at baseline (p<0.05),

but experienced no significant reduction in pain. The groups had no

differences in weight, waist-to-hip ratios, or scores on the quality-of-life

questionnaire.

The results suggest that a secondary growth hormone deficiency may be

responsible for some symptoms of fibromyalgia, the investigators concluded.

Dr. Leal-Cerro said that he and colleagues are next planning to study the

efficacy of treating fibromyalgia with a GH secretagogue, which would be

administered orally.

Pharmacia donated the growth hormone that was used in the study, and one of

the co-authors, Angels Ulied, is a staff researcher at Pharmacia in

Barcelona, Spain