OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity of the use of IGF-1, IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-3 as biochemical markers of nutritional status in prepubertal healthy children. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Healthy children from the Madrid area. PARTICIPANTS: Prepubertal children (aged 7-10 years) with a body mass index (BMI) above the 90th percentile (n = 25) and below the 10th percentile (n = 31) were selected from 2,559 included in the CAENPE study (Food Intake and Nutritional Status in Schoolchildren from Madrid). RESULTS: Overweight children were found to have higher serum levels of IGF-1 (306+/-162.2 vs. 209+/-71.2 ng/ml, p<0.001) and IGFBP-3 (3.3+/-1.0 vs. 2.9+/- 0.5 mg/l, p<0.01) and lower serum levels of IGFBP-1 (4.3+/-3.9 vs. 13.8+/-7.4 microg/l, p<0.01). There was a positive correlation with BMI, for IGF-1 and IGFBP-3, and negative correlation for IGFBP-1. No differences in albumin and transferrin concentrations were observed between both groups of children. CONCLUSION: IGF-1, IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-3 clearly classify over- and underweight prepubertal children, showing a good correlation with BMI. They can be used as biochemical markers of caloric nutritional status in this population.
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Icaya et al. (2000) studied this question.