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Serum growth hormone and insulin but not insulin-like growth factor-1 levels are elevated in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome

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Abstract

Standard radioimmunoassay (RIA) was employed to quantify basal serum growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1), and insulin levels in 32 normoglycemic patients with clinically active fibromyalgia and in 29 normoglycemic control subjects. The GH concentration was significantly higher (P<0.001) in female fibromyalgia patients than age-matched, normal female subjects. In contrast, basal serum IGF-1 concentrations did not differ between these groups. A scatter plot generated from two-stage, least-squares analysis showed that serum GH lacked correlation with the serum IGF-1 concentrations of normal female subjects (P=0.73) and female fibromyalgia patients (P=0.19). In addition to the results from serum GH and IGF-1 RIA, we also found significantly higher fasting serum insulin levels (P=0.03) in male fibromyalgia patients and a trend toward elevated fasting serum insulin levels in the female fibromyalgia population (P=0.07), with the mean fasting level in the male fibromyalgia group (35.7 μU/ml-1) exceeding the upper limit of normal serum insulin levels (i.e., 27 µU/ml-1). Based on these results, basal serum GH and fasting serum insulin levels appear to be valuable surrogate markers in clinically active, normoglycemic fibromyalgia patients.

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Fig. 1A, B

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported, in part, by the Northeast Ohio Multipurpose Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Center (NIH P60-AR-20618). The authors thank Ms. Betty Boja for excellent technical assistance and Dr. Douglas Einstadter of the Center for Health Care Research and Policy, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine at MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, for assistance with the statistical analyses. We also thank the Divisions of Rheumatic Diseases at the University Hospitals of Cleveland and the Veterans Administration Medical Center (Wade Park Division) for their support and cooperation during the collection of clinical specimens.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatic Diseases, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Charles W. Denko & Charles J. Malemud

  2. Department of Anatomy and Research Institute, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Joseph M. Foley Building, Room 207, 2061 Cornell Road, Cleveland, OH 44106-5076, USA

    Charles J. Malemud

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  1. Charles W. Denko
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Correspondence to Charles J. Malemud.

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Denko, C.W., Malemud, C.J. Serum growth hormone and insulin but not insulin-like growth factor-1 levels are elevated in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome. Rheumatol Int 25, 146–151 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-004-0459-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-004-0459-8

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