LOW IGF-I LEVELS ARE OFTEN UNCOUPLED WITH ELEVATED GH LEVELS IN CATABOLIC CONDITIONS

Increased GH together with decreased IGF-I levels pointing to peripher al GH insensitivity in critically ill patients have been reported by s ome but not by other authors. To clarify whether elevated GH levels ar e coupled with low IGF-I levels in all catabolic conditions, basal GH and IGF-I levels were evaluated in patients with sepsis (SEP, no.=13; age [mean +/- SE] = 59.2 +/- 1.2 yr), trauma (TRA, no.=16; age = 42.3 +/- 3.4 yr), major burn (BUR, no.=26; age = 52.8 +/- 4.2 yr) and posts urgical patients (SUR, no.=11; age = 55.0 +/- 4.7 yr) 72 hours after I CU admission or after cardiac surgery. GH and IGF-I levels were also e valuated in normal subjects (NS, no.=75; age = 44.0 +/- 1.5 yr), in ad ult hypopituitaric patients with severe GH deficiency (GHD, no.=54; ag e = 44.8 +/- 2.3 yr), in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC, no.=12; ag e = 50.4 +/- 2.8 yr) and in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN, no.=19 ; age = 18.7 +/- 0.8 yr). Basal IGF-I and GH levels in GHD were lower than in NS (68.6 +/- 6.4 vs 200.9 +/- 8.7 mu g/l and 0.3 +/- 0.1 vs 1. 4 + 0.2 mu g/l: p < 0.01). On the other hand, AN and LC showed IGF-I l evels (70.4 +/- 9.1 and 52.4 +/- 10.5 mu g/l) similar to those in GHD while GH levels (10.0 +/- 2.8 and 7.9 +/- 2.1 mu g/l) were higher than those in NS (p < 0.01). IGF-I levels in SEP (84.5 +/- 8.8 mu g/l) wer e similar to those in GHD, AN and LC and lower than those in NS (p < 0 .01). IGF-I levels in BUR (105.2 +/- 10.9 mu g/l) were lower than in N S (p < 0.01) but higher than those in GHD, AN, LC and SEP (p < 0.01). On the other hand, in TRA (162.8 +/- 17.4 mu g/l) and SUR (135.0 +/- 2 0.7 mu g/l) IGF-I levels were lower but not significantly different fr om those in NS and clearly higher than those in GHD, AN, LC, SEP and B UR. Basal GH levels in SEP (0.6 +/- 0.2 mu g/l), TRA (1.8 +/- 0.5 mu g /l), SUR (2.2 +/- 0.5 mu g/l) and BUR (2.2 +/- 0.5 mu g/l) were simila r to those in NS, higher (p < 0.05) than those in GHD and lower (p < 0 .01) than those in AN and LC. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that low IGF-I levels are not always coupled with elevated GH levels in al l catabolic conditions. Differently from cirrhotic and anorectic patie nts, in burned and septic patients GH levels are not elevated in spite of very low IGF-I levels similar to those in panhypopituitaric GHD pa tients. These findings suggest that in some catabolic conditions perip heral GH insensitivity and somatotrope insufficiency could be concomit antly present. (C) 1998, Editrice Kurtis.