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. 1999 May;80(5):443–447. doi: 10.1136/adc.80.5.443

Failure of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 to diagnose growth hormone insufficiency

H Mitchell 1, M Dattani 1, V Nanduri 1, P Hindmarsh 1, M Preece 1, C Brook 1
PMCID: PMC1717917  PMID: 10208950

Abstract

BACKGROUND—Growth hormone insufficiency (GHI) is diagnosed conventionally by short stature and slow growth, and is confirmed by diminished peak GH response to a provocation test. Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and IGF binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) have previously been considered individually
OBJECTIVE—To test the hypothesis that the combined analysis of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 could act as a surrogate marker for the diagnosis of GHI.
DESIGN—Reference ranges for IGF-I and IGFBP-3 were calculated using 521 normal individuals. A retrospective analysis was performed on 318 children referred for investigation of short stature.
RESULTS—No significant difference was found between either the IGF-I or IGFBP-3 standard deviation scores (SDSs) in children with and without GHI. If the requirement were for both tests to be positive (< −2 SDS) for a diagnosis of GHI, then 99% of children without GHI would be correctly identified; however, the sensitivity of the test was only 15%.
CONCLUSIONS—Neither IGF-I nor IGFBP-3 alone is a marker for GHI. In addition, they cannot be used as an effective screening test in combination.



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Selected References

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