Cardiac effects of growth hormone treatment in chronic heart failure: A meta-analysis

Context: Experimental studies suggest that GH treatment may improve cardiovascular parameters in chronic heart failure (CHF). However, clinical trials involved small numbers of patients and did not allow a conclusion to be drawn on the effect of this treatment in humans. Objective: We systematically reviewed and analyzed all randomized controlled trials and open studies of sustained GH treatment in CHF. Study Selection: Twelve trials were identified in three databases. We conducted a combined analysis of GH effects on cardiovascular parameters using the overall effect size to evaluate significance and computing the weighted mean differences with and without treatment to assess effect size. Data Synthesis: GH treatment significantly modified morphological cardiovascular parameters [interventricular septum thickness, + 0.55 (SD, 0.43) mm(P < 0.001); posterior wall thickness, +1.01 (0.44) mm (P < 0.01); left ventricle (LV) end-diastolic diameter, -2.02 (1.22) mm (P < 0.01); and LV end-systolic diameter, -5.30 (2.33) mm (P < 0.05)]; LV and systemic hemodynamics [LV end-systolic wall stress, -38.9 (13.3) dynes/cm(2) (P < 0.001); LV ejection fraction, +5.10 (1.74)% (P < 0.05); and systemic vascular resistance, +195.0 (204.5) dyn(.)sec(-1.)cm(-5) (P < 0.01)]; and functional parameters [New York Heart Association class, -0.97 (0.23) (P < 0.01); exercise duration, +103.7 (37.6) sec (P < 0.001); and maximal oxygen uptake, +2.48 (1.76) ml/kg(.)min (P < 0.01)]. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression showed significant relationships between the IGF-I response and GH treatment effects. Conclusion: Our meta-analysis suggests that GH treatment improves several relevant cardiovascular parameters in patients with CHF. However, these results must be confirmed by a large randomized placebo-controlled trial on hemodynamic, morphological, and functional parameters during long-term high-dose GH treatment of patients with CHF.