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Published on: November 28, 2011
Pediatric Continuous Reference Intervals of Serum Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 Levels in a Healthy Chinese Children
Bingyan Cao1, Yaguang Peng2, Wenqi Song3
1Department of Endocrinology, Genetics and Metabolism, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Insights
This study established age- and sex-specific reference intervals for insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in Chinese children. Body mass index (BMI) and height did not significantly affect IGF-1 levels in healthy youth.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric endocrinology
- Growth and development studies
- Biomarker reference ranges
Background:
- Establishing normative data for insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is crucial for assessing growth and development in children.
- Previous reference intervals may not accurately reflect the diverse Chinese pediatric population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine age- and sex-specific reference intervals for IGF-1 in healthy Chinese children and adolescents.
- To investigate the influence of body mass index (BMI) and height on IGF-1 levels.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 3753 blood specimens from the "pediatric reference intervals in China" study.
- IGF-1 measurement using chemiluminescent immunoassay.
- Calculation of 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles for reference limits and use of SDS and cubic spline curves for data modeling.
Main Results:
- Serum IGF-1 levels increased with age, peaking around 13 years in girls and 15 years in boys.
- Girls exhibited higher IGF-1 levels than boys before age 14.
- Height SDS, weight SDS, and BMI SDS showed weak correlations with IGF-1 SDS (P < .001).
Conclusions:
- Age- and sex-specific normative IGF-1 data were established for Chinese children aged 1-19 years.
- BMI and height standard deviation scores (SDS) were found to have no significant effect on IGF-1 levels in healthy children.
Objectives:
We aimed to establish age- and sex-dependent reference intervals for insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) based on the measurements of healthy Chinese children from the pediatric reference intervals in China study and to investigate whether body mass index (BMI) and height affect IGF-1 levels.
Methods:
A total of 3753 individuals with eligible blood specimens resampled from the pediatric reference intervals in China population were enrolled as reference individuals. IGF-1 levels were measured using a chemiluminescent immunoassay kit. The lower limit and upper limit values of the reference individuals were calculated by defining the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles. The skewness-median-coefficient of variation method was used to calculate the standard deviation score (SDS) of serum IGF-1, and cubic spline curves were applied to depict a smoothed curve for each age- and sex-specific stratification of the L, M, and S parameters.
Results:
Serum IGF-1 levels increased with age from the age of 1 year, peaking at around the age of 13 years in girls and 15 years in boys and then began to decline (both P <.001). Before 14 years, IGF-1 levels were higher in girls than in boys at the same age, and the difference was statistically significant (P < .05), but there was no significant difference in the IGF-1 levels between girls and boys aged 14 to 16 and 18 years. The Spearman correlation coefficients of height SDS, weight SDS, and BMI SDS with IGF-1 SDS were 0.29, 0.33, and 0.20, respectively (P < .001).
Conclusion:
This study established age- and sex-specific normative IGF-1 data for Chinese children and adolescents between the ages of 1 and 19 years. The BMI and height SDS had no effect on IGF-1 levels in healthy children.
