Exploring the sex difference in cardiovascular risk during growth hormone therapy in adults

Given the previously identified sex differences in cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality in patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) receiving GH replacement therapy (GHRT), our aim is to investigate sex-specific differences in the efficacy of (long-term) GHRT on CV risk profile and disease in subjects with GHD. Our hypothesis is that women will experience less beneficial effects than men.

Retrospective nationwide cohort study.

We compared all men (n = 1335) and women (n = 1251) with severe GHD registered in the Dutch National Registry of GH Treatment in Adults database with respect to CV risk profile and morbidity at baseline and during follow-up.

Men had a more unfavourable CV risk profile at baseline. During the first years of GHRT, the reduction in waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels was greater in men than in women (all P < .05). Between-sex differences in effects during later follow-up were less clear. No sex differences were found in the risk of developing non-fatal cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases during GHRT.

Our results suggest that men with GHD did indeed experience more beneficial effects of GHRT on body composition and lipoprotein metabolism than women, at least in the early years of treatment. Also, the more unfavourable CV risk profile at baseline in men did not translate into a sex difference in the risk of developing CV and cerebrovascular morbidity during GHRT.