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Death in two female Prader‐Willi syndrome patients during the early phase of growth hormone treatment
Author(s) -
Riedl Stefan,
Blümel Peter,
Zwiauer Karl,
Frisch Herwig
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2005.tb02022.x
Subject(s) - medicine , growth hormone treatment , growth hormone , pediatrics , hormone , endocrinology
Reports on sudden death in Prader‐Willi syndrome (PWS) patients after the start of growth hormone (GH) treatment have been published recently. We observed a 4.7‐y‐old girl who showed a continuous increase in pulmonary artery pressure and died of cardiorespiratory failure 7 wk after GH therapy had been initiated, and a 9.3‐y‐old girl with additional trisomy 21 who died during a minor respiratory infection 6 mo after GH had been started. Both patients were overweight (weight for height 127% and 224%, respectively). GH‐induced fluid retention may have occurred in the younger girl. In contrast to the reported cases, our PWS patients were female. Conclusion: Our cases illustrate the difficulty of differentiation between possible GH side effects and the natural course of disease, in particular with respect to obesity‐related comorbidity and mortality.