Objective: It has been hypothesized that secretory deficiencies of growth hormone may play a pathophysiological role in fibromyalgia (FM). Our objective was thus to evaluate the secretion of growth hormone in FM.
Methods: The 24-h urinary growth hormone excretion and serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) was measured in 17 middle aged women with FM and 19 healthy women. The degree of subjective sleep disturbance was also determined.
Results: Sleep was significantly more disturbed in the patients than the controls. We found no significant differences in the urinary excretion of growth hormone and serum levels of IGF-I between patients with FM and healthy controls.
Conclusion: Major secretory deficiencies were not documented. However, the power of our study does not allow us to discard the role of minor secretory deficiencies of human growth hormone in FM.