Takeaway
- This study found an inverse association between pre-diagnostic serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) concentrations and COVID-19 mortality risk among patients with COVID-19.
Why this matters
- Findings suggest a potential role of IGF-1 in COVID-19 prognosis and have implications for risk stratification and tailored treatment of patients with COVID-19.
- Further studies are needed to determine whether and how targeting IGF-1 pathway might improve COVID-19 prognosis.
Study design
- This observational study included 1670 patients with COVID-19 using data from the UK Biobank.
- Association between IGF-1 concentrations and mortality risk among patients with COVID-19 who had pre-diagnostic serum IGF-1 measurements at baseline (2006-2010) was evaluated.
- Funding: National Natural Science Foundation of China and others.
Key results
- A total of 415 deaths occurred because of COVID-19.
- Compared with the lower quartile (Q1) of IGF-1 concentrations, the highest quartile (Q4) was associated with a reduced risk of COVID-19 mortality (adjusted OR [aOR], 0.59; 95% CI, 0.41-0.86; Ptrend=.01).
- In the continuous model, per 1-standard deviation increment in log-transformed IGF-1 was associated with a lower risk of COVID-19 mortality (intraclass correlation coefficients corrected aOR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.73-0.99).
- The association was largely consistent across various stratified and sensitivity analyses.
- The association appeared to be stronger in non-White participants and non-smokers (both P-interaction <.05).
Limitations
- Observational nature of the study prevented from inferring causality.
- A single IGF-1 measurement at baseline may not represent the levels over 10 years.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
