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.