Date of Award
Spring 2019
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Biology
Mentor
Meredith Rowe
Abstract
Growth Hormone (GH) may have many more effects on the human body than those commonly known by the public. A study was conducted to determine what these additional functions may be, if these functions could necessitate the continued use of GH treatment for adults with Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD), and how these effects might invite the additional usage of GH as a treatment for normal individuals. Research consisted of a literature review and a statistical analysis of 86 adult GHD reports regarding how GH treatment had affected various symptoms. Reports were analyzed for significance using one-way ANOVAs. Observed results support that GH impacts energy, cognition, the cardiovascular system, the integumentary system, thermoregulation, wound regeneration, and the immune system. Each of these observed effects support that GH treatment may be a requirement to maintain the health of adult GHD patients. Literature review results also support that GH could be a possible treatment for cognitive impairment and nervous tissue injury in normal individuals. Results also suggest that GH treatment may not adequately attenuate hypohidrosis or poor thermoregulation symptoms in GHD patients.
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Citation Information
Hutchins, Damien Chance, "More Than Growth? A Study of the Additional Functions of Growth Hormone in the Human Body" (2019). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 32.
https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/undergrad-honors/32