Insulin-like growth factor-I in human malnutrition: relationship with some body composition and nutritional parameters. J Parenter Enteral Nutr 13: 392–396

ABSTRACT. The insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) plasma concentration was evaluated as a nutritional parameter in 18 patients affected with chronic malnutrition secondary to bilio-pancreatic bypass and compared with albumin, transferrin, and with body composition parameters: total body water (TBW), total body sodium (TBNa), total body potassium (TBK). Subjects were studied in malnutritional conditions and after 20 to 30 days of parenteral and enteral refeeding treatment. Immunoreactive IGF-I concentration was 0.35 U/ml ± 0.07 (mean ± SEM), significantly lower (p < 0.01) than in age-matched controls (1.14 ± 0.07 U/ml, n = 29) and rose signifi-cantly (0.84 ± 0.12 U/ml; p< 0.01) in parallel with the improve-ment of nutritional status. The ratios TBNa/TBW, TBNa/ TBK, and TBK/TBW were then considered as reference pa-rameters for definition of malnutritional state, and compare