Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Higher IGF-1 levels found in non-diabetic cats with heart thickening
By Steele, Matthew Me et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2021·Royal Veterinary College, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Increased insulin-like growth factor 1 concentrations in a retrospective population of non-diabetic cats diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of non-diabetic cats diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a heart condition that causes thickening of the heart muscle, was found to have elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in some cases. Specifically, about 6.7% of these cats had IGF-1 levels above 1000 ng/ml, which is a level linked to a condition called hypersomatotropism in diabetic cats. This finding suggests that there may be a connection between high IGF-1 levels and heart issues in non-diabetic cats, but more research is needed to understand this relationship fully.
People also search for: cat heart disease symptoms · hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in cats · elevated IGF-1 in cats
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to document whether a proportion of non-diabetic cats with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) previously diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) have elevated circulating insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) concentrations. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of residual blood samples obtained at the time of echocardiographic diagnosis of HCM from a population of 60 non-diabetic cats were analysed for circulating IGF-1 concentrations using a validated radioimmunoassay and compared with a control group of 16 apparently healthy cats without LVH. Clinical and echocardiographic data for cats with an IGF-1 level >1000 ng/ml were compared with those with an IGF-1 level <800 ng/ml. RESULTS: In total, 6.7% (95% confidence interval 1.8-16.2%) of cats with HCM had an IGF-1 level >1000 ng/ml. The prevalence of an IGF-1 level >1000 ng/ml in the control group was zero. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: A small proportion of non-diabetic cats previously diagnosed with HCM had an IGF-1 concentration at a level that has been associated with feline hypersomatotropism (fHS) in the diabetic cat population. Further prospective research is required to confirm or refute the presence of fHS in non-diabetic cats with LVH and increased IGF-1.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33541239/