Growth hormone treatment of infants with chronic kidney disease: requirement, efficacy, and safety

Growth failure is still a challenge in infants suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD). Persistent growth failure is associated with the excessive mortality rate seen in these patients and markedly hampers later psychosocial integration. Infancy is an extremely sensitive period of growth, since physiological growth rates are several times higher than in later life. Growth failure in infants with CKD has multiple reasons, originating preferentially from malnutrition and, to a lesser extent, from water and electrolyte losses, metabolic acidosis, anemia, and renal osteodystrophy. Although, recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) has been proven to be safe and effective for treatment of uremic growth failure in later childhood, its usage has not been adequately investigated in infants. Mencarelli et al. (Pediatric Nephrology 24:1039-1046, 2009) reported on their retrospective analysis of the longitudinal growth of 27 infants with early onset CKD that were receiving either standard therapy or additional rhGH treatment. Although their results were encouraging with respect to a sustained catch-up growth in rhGH-treated children, this issue has to be further addressed in prospective randomized controlled trials. In these trials special emphasis has to be given to the safety of this treatment modality, since rhGH might induce insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, especially in infants on high caloric intake and peritoneal dialysis.