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Featured Clinical Reviews

Commentary
June 18, 2008

New Developments in the Illegal Provision of Growth Hormone for “Anti-Aging” and Bodybuilding

Author Affiliations

Author Affiliations: Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago (Dr Olshansky); and Geriatrics Section, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.

JAMA. 2008;299(23):2792-2794. doi:10.1001/jama.299.23.2792

A consequence of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's recent hearing on the Mitchell Report on steroid and growth hormone (hGH) use was recognition that the misguided use of hGH by professional athletes and entertainers contributes to the far more frequent and increasing problem of anti-aging clinics, Web sites, compounding pharmacies, and producers selling the drug to the general public for medically inappropriate uses.1 In the face of evidence of illegal distribution of hGH, in January 2007, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published an alert specifying that anti-aging, bodybuilding, and athletic enhancement are not approved indications for hGH.2

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