ArticleJournal of the Endocrine Society2019
US Growth Hormone Use in the Idiopathic Short Stature Era: Trends in Insurer Payments and Patient Financial Burden.
Article in Journal of the Endocrine Society, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chinese herbal medicine for children with idiopathic short stature (ISS): A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Well, How Did We Get Here? The Current State of Pediatric Endocrinology.Journal of pediatrics. Clinical practice · 2026Article
- Variability in the management of healthy short youth following GH stimulation testing.Endocrines · 2026Article
- Association between recombinant human growth hormone therapy and refractive status in Korean children with idiopathic short stature: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Body Composition Changes and Catch-up Growth in Pre-pubertal Children with Short Stature: A Longitudinal Retrospective Cross-sectional Cohort StudyJournal of clinical research in pediatric endocrinology · 2025Article
- Correlates of youth involvement in decision making about growth hormone treatment.Families, systems & health : the journal of collaborative family healthcare · 2025Article
- The Rising Popularity of Growth Hormone Therapy and Ensuing Orthopedic Complications in the Pediatric Population: A Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Facilitators and barriers to the transition from outpatient clinic visits to home-based check-ups for children being treated with growth hormone: a mixed-methods study.European journal of pediatrics · 2024Article
- Parental measurement of height in growth hormone-treated children in the hospital setting proves valid: an observational study - potential for replacement of outpatient clinic visits to the home setting.European journal of pediatrics · 2024Observational
- Growth Hormone Treatment for Non-GHD Disorders: Excitement Tempered by Biology.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2024Review
- Patient and Parent Characteristics Related to Quality of Life and Self-Esteem in Healthy Youth Undergoing Provocative Growth Hormone Testing.The Journal of pediatrics · 2023Article
- Views on Short Stature of Female vs Male Endocrine Pediatric Patients Undergoing Provocative Growth Hormone Testing and Their Parents.Endocrine practice : official journal of the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists · 2023Article
- Endocrine Health and Health Care Disparities in the Pediatric and Sexual and Gender Minority Populations: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2023Article
- Clinical Indications for Growth Hormone Therapy.Advances in pediatrics · 2022Review
- Comparative effectiveness of East Asian traditional medicine for treatment of idiopathic short stature in children: Systematic review and network meta-analysis.Integrative medicine research · 2022Review
- Height outcomes in Korean children with idiopathic short stature receiving growth hormone treatment.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
- Clinical Practice Pattern of Korean Medicine Doctors in Idiopathic Short Stature Treatment: A Survey Study.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Investigation and Treatment of Growth Hormone Deficiency.The Journal of pediatrics · 2021Article
- Growth Hormone Stimulation Testing Patterns Contribute to Sex Differences in Pediatric Growth Hormone Treatment.Hormone research in paediatrics · 2021Article
- Real-World Treatment Patterns and Outcomes of Growth Hormone Treatment Among Children in Israel Over the Past Decade (2004-2015).Frontiers in pediatrics · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate trends in prevalence and expenditures of growth hormone (GH) use by US youth in the last 15 years, a period during which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved GH treatment of idiopathic short stature (ISS), and insurers imposed greater barriers to GH treatment reimbursements.
designWith the use of 2001 to 2016 OptumInsight commercial claims data, we analyzed trends in claims of GH drugs among beneficiaries aged 0 to 18 years (n = 38,857 beneficiaries receiving GH). Outcome measures included annual prevalence of GH claims and annual total insurer and total patient payments for GH claims.
resultsThe number of members with GH claims per 10,000 beneficiaries under age 18 rose steadily from 5.1 in 2001 to 14.6 in 2016, without a dramatic change around 2003, the ISS approval date. Mean total GH expenditures decreased (-26% in constant dollars), as did the estimated insurance paid amount (-28%). However, mean total patient spending increased by 163%. Beneficiaries switching GH brands in the year ranged from 1.4% to 3.6% in 2001 to 2007 and from 5.1% to 8.8% after, with 25.6% switching in 2009 and 13.9% switching in 2015.
conclusionsThe FDA ISS approval was not a watershed event in the steady increase in GH use by US youth. Progressive restrictions on coverage and formulary preference coverage strategies appear to have succeeded in lowering total expenditures and insurer burden of GH treatment per beneficiary. However, those savings were not passed on to patients who bore greater burdens financially and from brand switches.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.