Diurnal secretion of growth hormone, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone in pre- and perimenopausal women with active rheumatoid arthritis: a pilot case-control study.

Unlabelled: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with neuroendocrine and immunologic dysfunction leading to rheumatoid cachexia. Although excess proinflammatory cytokines can decrease somatotropic axis activity, little is known about the effects of RA on growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 (GH/IGF-I) axis function. We tested the hypothesis that patients with active RA exhibit decreased GH/IGF-I axis activity.