Fasting Levels of High-Sensitivity Growth Hormone Predict Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality: The Malmö Diet and Cancer Study

BackgroundBoth pathological excess and deficiency of growth hormone (GH) are associated with cardiovascular mortality.ObjectivesThe goal of this study was to test whether fasting levels of growth hormone measured with a high-sensitivity assay (hs-GH) predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality at the population level.MethodsWe studied 4,323 participants (age 46 to 68 years; mean age 58 years; 59% women) of the Swedish, population-based Malmö Diet and Cancer study examined in 1991 to 1994. Using multivariate-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models, we related baseline levels of fasting hs-GH to incidence of coronary artery disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality.ResultsDuring a median follow-up of 16.2 years, hs-GH (hazard ratio [HR]/SD increment of natural logarithm of fasting hs-GH) was independently associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease (397 events; HR: 1.11; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01 to 1.23; p = 0.04), stroke (251 events; HR: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.34; p = 0.01), congestive heart failure (107 events; HR: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.52; p = 0.02), all-cause mortality (645 events; HR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.08 to 1.26; p < 0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (186 events; HR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.24 to 1.66; p < 0.001). The addition of hs-GH to a model with conventional cardiovascular risk factors significantly reclassified risk, with a category-free net reclassification improvement (>0) of 0.542 (95% CI: 0.205 to 0.840) in cardiovascular mortality.ConclusionsHigher values of hs-GH were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.