Alterations of serum levels of three kinds of promote hormone releasing hormones in patients with fibromyalgia / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo explore alterations of serum levels and clinical significance of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) in patients with fibromyalgia (FM). MethodsA total of 55 subjects participated in this study 29 healthy volunteers and 26 patients with FM recruited from Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from June 2009 to October 2010.The depression rate was assessed by Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17. ELISA was used for the detection of the serum levels of CRH, TRH and GnRH.Normal distribution quantitative data were described by the (-x) ± s and tested by independent sample t-test. Non-normal quantitative data were described by interquartile range and tested by independent Mann-Whitney.The diagnostic specificity and sensitivity of 3 kinds of hormones test were analyzed by receiver operator characteristic ( ROC ) curve, and the Spearman correlation was used for analysis of hormone levels and age, gender, tenderness, pain degree and depression severity.Results Compared with the control (70. 0(48.7,78.0) ng/L), the fibromyalgia patients had obviously increased CRH (271.9 (210.9,326.5) rg/L, x2 =6.408, P＜0. 01) , and significantly higher TRH ((82.7 ±6. 9 ) ng/L vs ( 87. 2 ± 6. 8 ) ng/L, t = 2. 560, P ＜ 0. 05, respectively) and GnRH ( ( 18. 2 ± 0. 9 ) ng/L vs ( 19. 9 ± 1.6)ng/L,t =5. 324, P ＜0. 01, respectively). The serum concentrations of the CRH, TRH and GnRH were positively correlated with pain intensity and numbers of tenderness respectively, and those of the CRH and GnRH were positively correlated with depressive degree either. The areas under the ROC curve in the CRH, TRH and GnRH, evaluating the sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of fibromyalgia, were respectively 1. 000, 0. 684 and 0. 854. ConclusionsThe FM patients had an increased secretion of CRH,TRH and GnRH. CRH might serve as the adjunctive criteria for the diagnosis of FM.