The effect of long-term prednisone treatment on growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at IGF-1 LR3.

Due to a lack of longitudinal data the precise effect of long-term corticosteroid treatment on serum levels of the anabolic hormones Growth Hormone (GH) and Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) is unknown.

Therefore, the researchers prospectively followed GH and IGF-1 levels over a six month period in 18 euthyroid patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 18 patients were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Ten patients were treated with a three month course of prednisone; eight patients receiving retrobulbar irradiation served as controls.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got IGF-1 LR3 and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

What Was Measured

Due to a lack of longitudinal data the precise effect of long-term corticosteroid treatment on serum levels of the anabolic hormones Growth Hormone (GH) and Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) is unknown.

Therefore, the researchers prospectively followed GH and IGF-1 levels over a six month period in 18 euthyroid patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy.

The subject headings attached to it are Eye Diseases, Graves Disease, Human Growth Hormone, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I and Prednisone.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of IGF-1 LR3 in 18 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 1996 (Journal of endocrinological investigation), a journal based in Italy.

More context: the IGF-1 LR3 compound page, all human trials.