Serum IGF-1 concentrations in a sample of patients with traumatic brain injury as a diagnostic marker of growth hormone secretory response to glucagon stimulation testing

Summary Objective The diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in adults is established through growth hormone (GH) stimulation testing, which is often complex, expensive, time‐consuming and may be associated with adverse side effects. The decision to perform GH provocative testing is influenced by clinical findings, medical history and biochemical evidence. We report in this study our experience using the glucagon stimulation test (GST) in assessing GHD in adult patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) as it relates to baseline serum insulin‐like growth factor‐1 (IGF‐1) concentrations. Design A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to determine the optimal IGF‐1 cut‐off for diagnosis of GHD at different potential diagnostic GST cut‐off values (