Insulin-like growth factor 1 in patients with hypoglycaemia.

Plasma insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) concentrations were measured in a group of patients with hypoglycaemia due to endogenous hyperinsulinism, and compared with those in a group of patients matched for age and sex with hypoglycaemia and appropriately suppressed insulin levels. Insulin-like growth factor 1 concentrations were significantly higher in the hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemic group than in either the hypoinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia group or a group of euglycaemic control subjects. These data provide further evidence that insulin promotes IGF-1 production and release from the liver.