CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 386Growth Hormone and Insulin-like Growth FactorsPituitary Gland Disorders and TreatmentsHypothalamic control of reproductive hormones

Diagnosis of growth-hormone deficiency in adults

Hoffman, D.M, O'Sullivan, A.J, Ho, K.K.Y, Baxter, R.C·1994·The Lancet
DOI 10.1016/s0140-6736(94)90181-3
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

There is no consensus as to the most appropriate method of diagnosing growth-hormone (GH) deficiency in adults. We have evaluated the relative diagnostic merits of measuring peak GH response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia (insulin tolerance test), mean 24 h GH concentration derived from 20 min sampling, serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentrations, and serum IGF binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) concentrations. These tests were undertaken in 23 patients considered GH deficient from extensive organic pituitary disease, and in 35 sex-matched normal subjects of similar age and body-mass index. Hypopituitary subjects had significantly lower stimulated peak GH, mean 24 h GH, IGF-I, and IGFBP-3 concentrations than normal subjects. The ranges of stimulated peak GH responses were clearly separated between the hypopituitary (< 0.2-3.1 ng/mL) and normal (5.3-42.5 ng/mL) groups, but mean 24 h GH, IGF-I, and IGFBP-3 concentrations overlapped. Mean 24 h GH concentrations were below assay sensitivity in 80% of hypopituitary subjects and 16% of normal subjects. 70% and 72%, respectively, of the IGF-I and IGFBP-3 values in hypopituitary subjects were within the range for normal subjects. We conclude that GH deficiency in adults is most reliably identified by stimulatory testing, and that IGF-I and IGFBP-3 are poor diagnostic tests of adult GH deficiency.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/s0140-6736(94)90181-3

Cites

19 of 19 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Hoffman, D. M., O'Sullivan, A. J., Ho, K. K. Y., & Baxter, R. C.
Affiliations
  • Garvan Institute of Medical Research (AU)
  • Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (AU)
Corresponding author
Ho, K.K.Y
ORCID
Venue
The Lancet
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
1994-04
Volume
343
Issue
8905
Pages
1064-1068
ISSN
  • 0099-5355 (ISSN-L)
  • 0140-6736
DOI
10.1016/s0140-6736(94)90181-3
OpenAlex
W2081321979
Cited by
386
References
19
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 3
FWCI
10.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • The Lancet (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Growth Hormone and Insulin-like Growth Factors
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Pituitary Gland Disorders and Treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
Keywords
adult growth hormone deficiency, hypopituitarism, insulin tolerance test, insulin-like growth factor I, IGF binding protein-3, growth hormone stimulation testing, diagnostic accuracy
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Carrier Proteins, Female, Glucose Tolerance Test, Growth Disorders, Humans, Hypopituitarism, Insulin, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I, Male, Middle Aged, Radioimmunoassay, Sensitivity and Specificity, Growth Hormone, Body Mass Index, Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review