IGF1 and its binding proteins 3 and 1 are differentially associated with metabolic syndrome in older men.

OBJECTIVE Circulating IGF1 declines with age, and reduced circulating IGF1 is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in some but not all studies. The relationship between IGF-binding proteins 3 and 1 (IGFBP3 and IGFBP1) with risk of cardiovascular disease remains unclear. We sought to examine associations between IGF1, IGFBP3 and IGFBP1 with metabolic syndrome in older men. DESIGN Cross-sectional analysis of 3980 community-dwelling men aged >or=70 years. Methods Morning plasma levels of IGF1, IGFBP3 and IGFBP1 were assayed. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATPIII) criteria. RESULTS For IGF1 and IGFBP3, there was a U-shaped relationship, with middle quintiles possessing the lowest odds ratios (OR) for metabolic syndrome (reference Q1, Q3 IGF1: OR 0.74, 95% confidence intervals 0.57-0.96, Q3 IGFBP3: OR 0.67, 0.51-0.87). Increasing IGFBP1 was associated with reduced risk of metabolic syndrome with a dose-response gradient (reference Q1, OR for Q2 to Q5 IGFBP1: 0.56, 0.33, 0.22 and 0.12 respectively, P<0.001). IGF1 was associated with two, IGFBP1 with four and IGFBP3 with all five components of the metabolic syndrome. The ratio of IGF1/IGFBP3 was not associated with metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSIONS In older men, both lower and higher IGF1 and IGFBP3 levels may be metabolically unfavourable. IGFBP1, as a marker of insulin sensitivity, is relevant in the assessment of metabolic syndrome, while the IGF1/IGFBP3 ratio is less informative. Longitudinal follow-up of this cohort would be needed to determine whether these distributions of IGF1, IGFBP3 and IGFBP1 predict incidence of cardiovascular events during male ageing.