Effect of growth hormone on serum lipoproteins in growth hormone deficiency

The effect of growth hormone treatment on the plasma lipoproteins was studied in 13 growth hormone deficient children. The pretreatment total cholesterol level was moderately (p less than 0.05) higher in growth hormone deficiency and it decreased significantly under the effect of growth hormone administration. This decrease was due to the reduction of HDL-cholesterol in the first week and to the decrease of LDL-cholesterol after one month of treatment. The level of LDL-cholesterol returned to normal at one month. The plasma triglyceride level increased significantly under the effect of growth hormone in the first week and returned to normal after one month. This change was due to the increase of VLDL-triglyceride level. There was no difference in the cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations of growth hormone deficient children with normal or subnormal plasma thyroxine concentrations.