Long-term use of GH therapy safe in decompensated cirrhosis

It is safe to use long-term growth hormone (GH) therapy in patients with decompensated cirrhosis (DC), suggests a study, noting improvements in malnutrition and even quality of life (QoL). However, 12-month survival does not seem to improve.

In this study, DC patients were randomly assigned to receive either standard medical therapy plus GH (group A; n=38) or standard therapy alone (group B; n=38).

The researchers assessed body mass index (BMI), midarm muscle circumference (MAMC), hand grip strength (HGS), liver frailty index (LFI), skeletal muscle index (SMI), nitrogen balance, Child-Turcotte-Pugh, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), quality of life (QOL), serum albumin, GH, insulin like growth factor-1, and acid labile subunit (ALS) at baseline and at 12 months.

Between baseline and 12 months, group A showed significantly better mean difference (p<0.05) in SMI (‒6.122 cm²/m²), BMI (‒2.078 kg/m²), MAMC (‒1.960 cm), HGS (‒5.595 kg), albumin (‒0.3967 g/dL), LFI (0.3328), Child-Turcote-Pugh (0.9624), MELD (1.401), insulin-like growth factor-1 (‒6.295 ng/dL), and ALS (‒8.728 pg/mL).

On the other hand, no significant improvements were observed in terms of nutritional parameters, clinical scores, QoL scores, or nitrogen balance in group B.

Additionally, the mean difference in SMI, HGS, MAMC, LFI, ALS, physical component summary, and mental component summary at 12 months was statistically significant between groups A and B. No significant between-group difference was noted in survival at 12 months (p=0.35).