A new study says elderly men and women taking human growth hormone to combat the effects of aging may increase their risk of carpal tunnel syndrome and diabetes. Appearing in Thursday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the six-month study, which was conducted by researchers at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, followed 131 men and women 65 to 88 years old given either growth hormone alone, growth hormone combined with a sex hormone or just a sex hormone. While there was a significant increase in lean body mass and a decrease in fat in patients taking growth hormone or a growth hormone/sex hormone combination, their strength remained the same. Forty percent of men and women using growth hormone either developed carpal tunnel syndrome or diabetes or experienced joint pain, swelling of the limbs or symptoms of glucose intolerance. The side effects went away after growth hormone treatment was halted.