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Abstract
Growth hormone (GH) response to growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) was investigated to test the somatostatin deficiency hypothesis in Alzheimer's disease in 20 patients with Alzheimer's disease, 20 elderly patients with depressive illness and 20 elderly healthy control subjects. The whole group of patients with Alzheimer's disease showed significantly lower GH response than the depressive patients and normal controls (GH expressed as area under the curve and serial measurements after GHRH stimulation). The findings do not support the somatostatin deficiency hypothesis, but do support some of the results of earlier studies concerning the performance of GHRH tests in depressive illness and Alzheimer's disease.