ABSTRACT
To assess the relationship between insulin like growth factor-I and bone mineral density in elderly, this study was conducted on 46 elderly subjects subdivided into 23 elderly males [50%] age ranged between 60-89 years [66.95 +/- 8.4] and 23 elderly females [50%] age ranged between 60-81 years [63.39 +/- 4.95] in addition to 20 adult healthy subjects 10 males [50%] and 10 females [50%]. Their age ranged between 20-41 years [28.5 +/- 6.37] as a control group. The results showed highly significant reduction of bone mineral density by both T and Z scores in elderly males compared to control group, [- 3.33 +/- 2.07] and [-0.57 +/- 1.51] [P <0.01] in T- score and [-2.06 +/- 2.13] [- 0.54 +/- 1.49] in Z- score respectively [P < 0.01] with highly significant reduction of IGF-I in elderly males [60.01 +/- 35.84] compared to control group[145.00 +/- 64.00] [P<0.01]. Among elderly healthy females our results showed significant reduction of bone mineral density T- socre in elderly healthy females compared to control [-1.64 +/- 1.31] [- 0.57 +/- 1.51] respectively [P< 0.05]. But there is non-significant reduction of Z score in elderly healthy females in comparison to controls [-0.13 +/- 1.24] [- 0.54 +/- 1.49] [P > 0.05], with a highly significant reduction of IGF-1 in elderly females compared to controls [59.44 +/- 43.40] [145.00 +/- 64.00] respectively [P<0.01]. When we compared IGF-1 in osteopenic group [T> -1 SD] and osteoporotic [T > -2 SD] to that of control group we found a significant reduction of IGF- I in osteoporotic than osteopenic than control group which may postulate the role of IGF-1 reduction in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis in elderly