The role of growth hormone and IGF-1 in retinopathy: a prospective study of retinopathy in patients with acromegaly and impaired fasting glucose

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AimsTo investigate the effects of the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) axis on the incidence and progression of retinopathy.MethodsWe enrolled 91 patients with acromegaly and 123 subjects with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) between 2008 and 2016 to examine the incidence and prevalence of retinopathy. Patients attended follow-ups in our clinics and underwent examinations according to the national guidelines for diabetes management. Both cohorts attended follow-ups until June 2019.ResultsBoth groups had similar HbA1c, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels. However, patients with acromegaly had higher GH (8.05 ± 16.18 vs. 0.78 ± 1.25 ng/mL) and IGF-1 (547.0 ± 342.1 vs. 146.7 ± 51.4 ng/mL) levels than in subjects with IFG. During the follow-up period, 8 patients (8.8%) with acromegaly and 12 patients (9.8%) with IFG developed some degree of retinopathy. Three patients with acromegaly and two with IFG progressed to proliferative retinopathy. Patients with acromegaly had the same incidence of non-proliferative retinopathy (odds ratio [OR] 0.830; 95% CI 0.318–2.164) and a non-statistically significantly higher incidence of proliferative retinopathy (OR 2.461; 95% CI 0.404–14.988).ConclusionThe data reveals that GH and IGF-1 might play a crucial role in the development of proliferative retinopathy and influence its progression. Therefore, we suggest screening patients with acromegaly should be similar to diabetes patients.