TY - JOUR

T1 - Prevalence of Posttraumatic Growth Hormone Deficiency Is Highly Dependent on the Diagnostic Set-up

T2 - Results From The Danish National Study on Posttraumatic Hypopituitarism

AU - Klose, Marianne Christina

AU - Stochholm, Kirstine

AU - Janukonyté, Jourgita

AU - Lehman Christensen, Louise

AU - Frystyk, Jan

AU - Andersen, Marianne

AU - Laurberg, Peter

AU - Christiansen, Jens Sandahl

AU - Feldt-Rasmussen, Ulla

PY - 2014/1

Y1 - 2014/1

N2 - CONTEXT: Recent international guidelines suggest pituitary screening in patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Predominantly isolated GH deficiency (GHD) was reported in the literature, raising the question of potential methodological bias.OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to assess the prevalence of GHD in patients admitted in 2008 with TBI, with concurrent assessment of methodological bias.DESIGN AND SETTING: We conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study at tertiary referral university hospitals.PARTICIPANTS: Participants were Danish patients with a head trauma diagnosis from the Danish Board of Health diagnostic code registry; 439 patients and 124 healthy controls underwent dynamic assessment of GH secretion 2.5 years (median) after TBI.MAIN OUTCOME: We evaluated the prevalence of GHD given use of 1) local versus guideline cutoffs, 2) insulin tolerance test (ITT), pyridostigmine (PD)-GHRH or GHRH-arginine (arg) test, 3) single versus repeated testing, and 4) GH assessment by assays with different isoform specificities.RESULTS: The prevalence of GHD was lower by local than by guideline cutoffs (12% vs 19% [PD-GHRH/GHRH-arg, P<.001]; 4.5% vs 5% [ITT, P=.9]), and by ITT than by PD-GHRH/GHRH-arg (P=.006 [local cutoffs]; P<.001 [guideline cutoffs]). Only 1% of patients had GHD according to 2 tests. GH assessment by the Immulite or iSYS assay caused no significant diagnostic differences.CONCLUSIONS: The study confirmed a high risk of bias in the management of pituitary testing of patients with TBI and stresses the importance of a proper control group and stringent GH testing including confirmatory testing in cohorts with low a priori likelihood of GHD such as in TBI. Our results question the evidence for newly introduced recommendations for routine pituitary assessment in TBI.

AB - CONTEXT: Recent international guidelines suggest pituitary screening in patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Predominantly isolated GH deficiency (GHD) was reported in the literature, raising the question of potential methodological bias.OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to assess the prevalence of GHD in patients admitted in 2008 with TBI, with concurrent assessment of methodological bias.DESIGN AND SETTING: We conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study at tertiary referral university hospitals.PARTICIPANTS: Participants were Danish patients with a head trauma diagnosis from the Danish Board of Health diagnostic code registry; 439 patients and 124 healthy controls underwent dynamic assessment of GH secretion 2.5 years (median) after TBI.MAIN OUTCOME: We evaluated the prevalence of GHD given use of 1) local versus guideline cutoffs, 2) insulin tolerance test (ITT), pyridostigmine (PD)-GHRH or GHRH-arginine (arg) test, 3) single versus repeated testing, and 4) GH assessment by assays with different isoform specificities.RESULTS: The prevalence of GHD was lower by local than by guideline cutoffs (12% vs 19% [PD-GHRH/GHRH-arg, P<.001]; 4.5% vs 5% [ITT, P=.9]), and by ITT than by PD-GHRH/GHRH-arg (P=.006 [local cutoffs]; P<.001 [guideline cutoffs]). Only 1% of patients had GHD according to 2 tests. GH assessment by the Immulite or iSYS assay caused no significant diagnostic differences.CONCLUSIONS: The study confirmed a high risk of bias in the management of pituitary testing of patients with TBI and stresses the importance of a proper control group and stringent GH testing including confirmatory testing in cohorts with low a priori likelihood of GHD such as in TBI. Our results question the evidence for newly introduced recommendations for routine pituitary assessment in TBI.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Adult

KW - Aged

KW - Brain Injuries

KW - Case-Control Studies

KW - Denmark

KW - Diagnostic Techniques, Endocrine

KW - Female

KW - Human Growth Hormone

KW - Humans

KW - Hypopituitarism

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Prevalence

KW - Young Adult

U2 - 10.1210/jc.2013-2397

DO - 10.1210/jc.2013-2397

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 24243629

VL - 99

SP - 101

EP - 110

JO - Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

JF - Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

SN - 0013-7227

IS - 1

ER -