Both Low and High Serum Insulin-like Growth Factor-I Levels Associate with Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Events in Elderly Men.

• Aims: Most previous prospective studies suggest that low serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) associates with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events while other studies suggest that high serum IGF-I associates with increased risk of CVD events. We tested the hypothesis that not only low, but also high, serum IGF-I associate with increased risk of CVD events in elderly men. Methods and Results: Serum IGF-I levels were measured in 2901 elderly men (aged 69 to 81 years) included in the prospective population-based MrOS-Sweden cohort. Data for CVD events were obtained from national Swedish registers with no loss of follow-up. During follow-up (median 5.1 yrs) 589 of the participants experienced a CVD event. The association between serum IGF-I and risk of CVD events was nonlinear, and restricted cubic spline Cox regression analysis revealed a U-shaped association between serum IGF-I levels and CVD events (p<0.01 for nonlinearity). Low as well as high serum IGF-I (quintile 1 or 5 vs. quintiles 2-4) significantly associated with increased risk for CVD events (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.54; and HR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.10-1.66, respectively). These associations remained after adjustment for prevalent CVD and multiple risk factors. High serum IGF-I associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) events but not with risk of cerebrovascular events. Conclusion: Both low and high serum IGF-I levels are risk markers for CVD events in elderly men. The association between high serum IGF-I and CVD events is mainly driven by CHD events.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Endokrinologi och diabetes (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Endocrinology and Diabetes (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)