Hormonal profile in patients with congestive heart failure.
BACKGROUND
Recent progress has been made in the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of growth hormone action and of its effects on cardiac tissue. The aim of this study was to measure growth hormone concentrations, along with various other hormones, in patients with stable chronic congestive heart failure due to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.


METHODS
The study included 23 ambulatory men, 51.2+/-9.3 years of age, on standard medical therapy for heart failure due to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. All patients underwent clinical and laboratory evaluations, including echocardiogram, radionuclide ventriculography, right heart catheterization, coronary angiography, and right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy. Serum or plasma concentrations of growth, thyroid, sex and adrenal hormones were measured in all patients and compared with those found in 20 age-matched healthy men.


RESULTS
Growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor I, and free testosterone values in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure were 0.37+/-0.2 ng/ml, 123.7+/-50 ng/ml and 48.6+/-23.8 pmol/l, respectively, versus 0.5+/-0.4 ng/ml (P<0.01), 236.3+/-66.4 ng/ml (P<0.001) and 105+/-17 pmol/l (P<0.01), respectively, in the healthy age-matched individuals. All other hormone concentrations were comparable in both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Chronic heart failure due to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy is associated with a significant decrease in growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor I, and testosterone concentrations, probably due to chronic disease.
Kontoleon
Panagiotis E
PE
2nd Endocrinology Division, 'Alexandra' Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Anastasiou-Nana
Maria I
MI
Papapetrou
Petros D
PD
Alexopoulos
George
G
Ktenas
Vasiliki
V
Rapti
Ageliki C
AC
Tsagalou
Eleftheria P
EP
Nanas
John N
JN
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013739:Testosterone / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism
D015415:Biomarkers; D013739:Testosterone; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D013006:Growth Hormone