title: Pituitary-thyroid axis, prolactin and growth hormone in patients with acute stroke.
abstract: The pituitary-thyroid axis, serum prolactin and growth hormone levels were studied in 29 patients within 9 d of onset of acute ischaemic stroke. When compared to a control group of 80-year-old volunteers (n = 33), stroke patients were found to have elevated free thyroxine indices (P = 0.008), after adjustment for age and sex. Seventeen (81%) of the stroke patients showed a paradoxical rise in growth hormone in response to thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH). In a multiple regression model, disorientation was associated with a low thyrotropin response to TRH (P = 0.02 and P = 0.04; 20 and 60 min after TRH, respectively). Disorientation was also positively correlated with the prolactin response to TRH (P = 0.045 after 60 min). Growth hormone levels were predicted by extensive motor impairment (P = 0.02). In conclusion, changes in pituitary and thyroid hormones were commonly observed after stroke and were closely associated with cognitive and/or motor impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Umeå University Hospital, Sweden.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asplund
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hägg
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011388:Prolactin / Q000097:blood*; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood; D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone; D011388:Prolactin; D013972:Thyrotropin; D013006:Growth Hormone; D013974:Thyroxine