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This Article Accepted manuscript (PDF) All Versions of this Article: EJE-08-0243v1 159/4/375    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Tanimoto, K. Articles by Hanafusa, T. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tanimoto, K. Articles by Hanafusa, T.

The influence of age on the GH-IGF-I axis in patients with acromegaly

K Tanimoto, Dept of Med, Inst of Clinical Endocrinology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
N Hizuka, Dept of Med, Inst of Clinical Endocrinology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
I Fukuda, Dept of Med, Inst of Clinical Endocrinology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
K Takano, Dept of Med, Inst of Clinical Endocrinology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
T Hanafusa, First Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Medical College, Osaka, Japan

Correspondence: Naomi Hizuka, Email: naomihi{at}endm.twmu.ac.jp

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of age on growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) axis, and complications in patients with acromegaly.

Subjects and Methods: From the medical records, we retrospectively analyzed clinical features and complications in 87 newly diagnosed patients with active acromegaly (34 males, 53 females; aged 18-82 years) who were admitted to Tokyo Women's Medical University between 1999 and 2006. We divided the patients into three groups according to age: 30 years old (young group), 31-60 years old (middle-aged group), and 61 years old (elderly group).

Results: The median GH levels in young, middle-aged, and elderly groups were 18.5, 8.8, and 6.7 µg/L, respectively, and the IGF-I levels were 810, 717, and 740 µg/L, respectively. The values were not significantly different among the groups. However, the serum IGF-I SD scores were significantly higher in elderly group (10.2) than those in young and middle-aged groups (6.6 and 6.2, respectively, p<0.001). The age-differences in the higher IGF-I SDS was remarkable in female patients. In elderly group, glucose intolerance and hypertension were found in 94% and 53% of the patients, and the incidences were higher than those in the other groups.

Conclusion: This study suggests that the relatively high GH and IGF-I secretions in elderly patients might be involved in the progression of clinical complications in acromegalic patients. Therefore, awareness of the early symptoms and examination of serum GH and IGF-I are important for patients with acromegaly.