Height-increasing injections, sexual suppressant injections... Worried about your child's height, are injections reliable to help them grow taller?

From height-increasing injections to sexual inhibition injections, parents are more anxious than their children about "height involution". How should height-increasing injections be used? What are the misunderstandings about injections? What is the relationship between "sexual inhibition injections" and height increase?

Written by reporter Lv Bingxin Photo and text editor: Chen Yongjie

New Media Editor/Li Yunfeng

【Interview with experts】

Wu Xueyan

(Chief physician of the Department of Endocrinology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital and head of the Pituitary-Gonadal Group at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Focuses on basic and clinical research on growth and development, reproduction, hormones and aging, and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal diseases)

Open the ampoule of water for injection, draw water for injection and slowly inject it into the powder bottle of "height-increasing injection", shake to dissolve, draw the solution with a syringe, and then insert the needle into her daughter's belly at a 45° angle. After a whole year, Ms. Zhu has become very familiar with this set of operating procedures, and her movements are smooth and seamless.

The scene above is a ritual that Ms. Zhu's family has to go through every night half an hour before going to bed - injecting the child with a height-increasing injection. It's not just Ms. Zhu. In recent years, height-increasing injections have become increasingly popular among the new generation of young parents. Height-increasing injections are actually a popular term for recombinant human growth hormone. Earlier, the media reported that a mother was worried about her son's short height and "tried all means" to inject growth hormone. After a year, she spent 480,000 yuan, but her son only grew 1 cm taller.

Parents are often more anxious than their children about "height involution". But how should the height-increasing injection be used? What are the misunderstandings about the injection of height-increasing injections? What is the relationship between "sex suppression injections" and height increase? The reporter interviewed Wu Xueyan, chief physician of the Endocrinology Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

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Parents' height anxiety: "I am involuted, I admit it"

From 7am to midnight, the dialog box of this group chat named "Growth Hormone Treatment Exchange Group" has been flashing new messages non-stop. The group introduction reads: "We are all together for the children. The purpose of establishing the group is to allow parents with the same disease to communicate, discuss and learn together. Together, we can help children grow taller and overcome difficulties together."

This is a group chat group with nearly 2,000 members. Parents from all over the country gather here for the same reason: their children are short. As soon as the reporter joined the group, he saw someone posting a hospital checkup report. The question "My child's bone age is 2 years older, what should I do?" immediately sparked a lot of discussion.

This is not a unique group. If you search for keywords such as "growth hormone" and "height-increasing injections", you will find many communication groups specifically for children's height. Parents have always attached great importance to their children's height. In recent years, with the development of social and economic levels and the improvement of people's health awareness, parents' expectations for their children's height have become higher and higher. Once asked why, they can easily come up with countless reasons.

"Height is a lifelong issue, which directly affects children's future employment, marriage and other major issues." "I am afraid that children will feel inferior because of their short stature, which will affect their mental health." "Some majors have height restrictions for children, and I don't want to lose this opportunity." "We parents don't require our children to be too tall, but they have to reach the average level." "The minimum standard I require is that boys cannot be less than 170 cm and girls cannot be less than 160 cm..."

"Because I am not tall myself, I am particularly afraid that my child will not grow tall either." Ms. Zhu said when talking about her obsession with her daughter's height. "Being short is like a dark cloud hanging over my head. I cannot escape it. But now, with the help of technology, my daughter's height can be changed through height-increasing injections. I finally have hope. She doesn't need to grow too tall. Just 160 cm is enough."

However, in addition to parents like Ms. Zhu who want their children to grow to "normal values", there is another "faction" in the "chicken baby" parent circle. Wu Xueyan, chief physician of the Department of Endocrinology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, once encountered such a patient, "The boy has grown to 175 cm, but his parents are relatively well-off and hope that the child will grow to 180 cm or even more with the help of growth hormone. This is obviously too radical."

The Lancet, a world-renowned medical journal, recently published a study showing that the average height of 19-year-old males in China reached 175.7 cm, while the average height of 19-year-old females reached 163.5 cm. As a result, parents who are afraid of falling behind have begun to look to a series of medical methods in the hope of raising their children a little taller.

In the chat group of "Growth Hormone Treatment Exchange Group", a parent comforted others by saying that height is not that important. Then someone retorted below: "We are injecting (growth hormone) so actively every day, and you say height is not important?"

"It's too competitive. I'm introverted, I admit it," said the parent.

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Growth hormone is not something you can inject whenever you want.

Growth hormone is a peptide hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland of the human body. It has anabolic effects, can increase muscle mass, promote bone growth in childhood and adolescence, strengthen tendons and enlarge internal organs.

Recombinant human growth hormone is a growth hormone with the same structure as human growth hormone, which is manufactured by recombinant DNA technology. It originated in the United States. In 1985, the U.S. FDA approved the listing of recombinant human growth hormone of biopharmaceutical company Genentech. In 1998, Jinsai Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Changchun High-Tech, launched the first recombinant human growth hormone powder injection, which began to rapidly open up the domestic market.

The FDA has approved the indications of growth hormone for diseases such as childhood growth hormone deficiency, idiopathic short stature, short stature due to Turner syndrome, insufficient growth before renal transplantation in chronic renal insufficiency, and HIV infection-related wasting syndrome. Growth hormone is widely known in China because it is mainly used in medicine to treat dwarfism and has the effect of "increasing height".

In Wu Xueyan's view, the emergence of growth hormone is a great advancement in medicine, which has benefited many people, especially those patients with growth hormone deficiency, which is like "a long drought finally comes to an end". "But growth hormone cannot be used to expand its treatment scope without authorization, and we firmly oppose its abuse."

"The problem now is that some parents do not understand its indications, or even its risks, and use it recklessly. This must be stopped." Wu Xueyan said that some private clinics that blindly make money also need to be controlled. On the one hand, the dosage they use for children may not be appropriate; on the other hand, some children's epiphyseal lines (the cartilage between the epiphysis and the metaphysis, which appears as a wide translucent band on the X-ray of young children, and gradually shortens with age. When the cartilage between the epiphysis and the metaphysis is completely ossified, a tight seam is formed. At this time, the epiphyseal line is completely closed and the bones stop growing) have been completely closed, but they are still fooled into injecting growth hormone. This is extremely irresponsible. "It's like driving a car and there is no road ahead, and you have reached a wall, but you are still stepping on the accelerator desperately, which will cause the car to crash and people to die."

What is more serious is that some private hospitals do not put safety first when using growth hormone, and do not rule out in advance whether the child has potential tumors or metabolic risks. These practices are very dangerous. Wu Xueyan said, "We are not opposed to taking a car, but we must ensure safe arrival."

Wu Xueyan introduced that the use of growth hormone should be considered based on a variety of factors. First, it depends on the child's current bone age development; second, it depends on the height difference with peers. Third, it depends on the child's current developmental status and the speed of development. Another point is to look at the parents' genetics. For those patients who are clearly deficient in growth hormone, supplementary injections are necessary.

If the child is determined to need growth hormone, various physical examinations should be conducted on the child in advance. Wu Xueyan pointed out that growth and development disorders caused by non-growth hormone deficiency should be ruled out first. Abnormal growth and development of children is not only related to growth hormone, but also to nutritional status, disease, endocrine system, and parasites. Secondly, it is necessary to rule out whether there are risk factors related to growth hormone treatment in the child's body, such as assessing the child's blood sugar metabolism ability and whether there is a tumor.

In addition, injection of growth hormone may also cause a series of adverse reactions, such as edema, headache, blood sugar fluctuations, abnormal thyroid function, etc. Wu Xueyan pointed out that the dosage of growth hormone needs to be controlled by professional doctors, and children receiving growth hormone treatment should be followed up by specialist clinics every 3-6 months to monitor and evaluate its effectiveness and safety.

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What is the relationship between growth hormone and sexual suppression injections?

In addition to growth hormone, the "sex suppression injection" has also recently come into people's attention due to a news report that "a 9-year-old girl spent 100,000 yuan on injections for half a year to grow taller."

"Sex inhibition injection", namely gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue, is a synthetic polypeptide drug. As the main drug for the treatment of central precocious puberty, the inhibition injection slows down the progression of bone age and improves adult height by inhibiting the activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis and the secretion of sex hormones. In layman's terms, the role of the inhibition injection is to inhibit the rapid maturation of bone age.

So, what is the difference between growth hormone and "sex suppressant injection"? Wu Xueyan used a vivid metaphor: "If you have an exam tomorrow, but your grades are not satisfactory, what should we do? On the one hand, you can discuss with the teacher whether the exam can be postponed for a month, which requires the sex suppressant injection to extend the growth cycle; on the other hand, you can't just lie down for a month, you have to work hard, which is to rely on growth hormone to promote growth. This is the only way to improve your grades and shorten the gap with others."

"Sex suppression injections and growth hormones do not necessarily have to be used together. Only patients with precocious puberty need sex suppression injections," said Wu Xueyan.

In addition, in response to the price controversy about sexual suppression injections in the news, Wu Xueyan introduced that sexual suppression injections only need to be injected once a month, the cost is about 1,500 yuan, and it will not exceed 10,000 yuan for simple use for half a year. But if it is used in conjunction with growth hormone, the price is uncertain. Growth hormone is mainly divided into three types: powder, liquid, and long-acting liquid. Among them, powder is the cheapest and the liquid is relatively cheap. Both need to be injected every day. The price of long-acting liquid is relatively high, and it is injected once a week, which is simpler and more convenient to operate. Generally speaking, the specific cost is determined by the child's weight, responsiveness to treatment, and treatment time. "Take a child weighing 30KG as an example. The powder treatment costs about 3,000 yuan per month, the liquid costs 5,000-6,000 yuan per month, and the long-acting liquid costs about 12,000 yuan per month."

"The effects of the three injections are basically the same, just like flying in economy class, business class, or first class on an airplane. The prices are different and the experiences are different, but they all take off and arrive at the same time. You can choose according to your financial situation." Wu Xueyan said.

"We chose powder, which needs to be dissolved by yourself when injecting, which is indeed troublesome, but the financial pressure is less." Ms. Zhu said that her daughter was very afraid of daily injections at first, but after psychological counseling, she has gradually adapted to it. After a year of treatment, "she has grown 7 centimeters taller." Ms. Zhu said happily.

However, whether it is a growth hormone injection or a sex suppressant injection, it requires a series of examinations and strict supervision by doctors for standardized treatment. In addition, the treatment effect varies from person to person.

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Establish a healthy "height concept"

It is undeniable that every parent and child hopes to have a perfect height, but it must be viewed from a scientific and reasonable perspective.

"Some parents are too aggressive about their children's height and try all kinds of methods to make them taller, but some parents are too conservative and think that their children are just "late growing" and fail to identify and intervene in their children's growth and development problems in a timely manner, thus wasting a critical period."

How should parents judge whether their children's height growth is abnormal? A simple and effective method is to compare the height level with the same age and gender group and look at the percentile. The specific operation is to refer to the "Children and Adolescents Height and Weight Percentile Curve" to find the height percentile of your child. As long as the height value is between the 3rd and 97th, it is considered normal height. If the child's own curve rises parallel to one of the lines, it means that the growth rate is normal, and parents do not need to blindly supplement in pursuit of upper-middle grade. Below the 3rd place, there may be growth retardation, and above the 97th place, there may be excessive growth, and medical intervention is required at this time.

In addition, the child's annual growth rate is lower than normal; the parents are short in height, but the child is tall before school age and develops earlier than children of the same age; girls develop sexual characteristics such as enlarged breasts before the age of 8, and boys develop enlarged testicles before the age of 10, and their height growth rate is significantly accelerated; girls have their first menstruation before the age of 10, or their height is less than 145 cm at the time of their first menstruation; boys have voice changes before the age of 12, and their height is average or below, etc. When these situations occur, timely medical intervention is required.

Wu Xueyan said that in addition to medical intervention, daily diet, sleep, exercise and emotions also play an important role in the height of adolescents, and parents should pay special attention to these aspects.

Produced by: Science Central Kitchen

Produced by: Beijing Science and Technology News | Beijing Science and Technology Media

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