Serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) does not correlate positively with isometric strength, fatigue, and quality of life in post-polio syndrome.

OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND: To determine if serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels are associated with strength, body mass index (BMI), fatigue, or quality of life in post-poliomyelitis syndrome (PPS). PPS is likely due to a distal disintegration of enlarged post-polio motor units as a result of terminal axonal sprouting. Age-related decline in growth hormone and IGF-I (which support terminal axonal sprouts) is proposed as a contributing factor.

METHODS: As part of the North American Post-Poliomyelitis Pyridostigmine Study (NAPPS), baseline data on maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), BMI, subjective fatigue (fatigue severity scale, Hare fatigue symptom scale), health-related quality of life (short form health survey-36; SF-36), and serum IGF-I levels were gathered on 112 PPS patients. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the association between serum IGF-I and MVIC in 12 muscles, BMI, two fatigue scales, and SF-36 scale scores.

RESULTS: There is a significant inverse correlation of IGF-I levels with MVIC in left ankle dorsiflexors (r=-0.30, P<0.01), and left and right knee extensors (r=-0.22, -0.25, P=<0.01, 0.01), but no significant correlations in other muscles. When men and women were evaluated separately, inverse correlations of IGF-I levels with MVIC were found only in men. IGF-I correlated inversely with BMI (r=-0.32, P=0006) and age (r=-0.32, P=0.0005). IGF-I did not correlate with the fatigue or SF-36 scales.

CONCLUSIONS: In this exploratory study, we found that contrary to our expectations, IGF-I did not correlate positively with strength. IGF-I correlated negatively with strength in several lower extremity muscles, BMI, and age. IGF-I is likely not an important factor in the pathogenesis of fatigue and in determining quality of life in PPS, but its role on strength should be studied further.