• Ioulietta Erotokritou-Mulligan, E Eryl Bassett, David A Cowan, Christiaan Bartlett, Cathy McHugh, Peter H Sönksen, Richard I G Holt, and GH-2004 group.
• Endocrinology and Metabolism Unit, Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Division, School of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
• Clin. Endocrinol. (Oxf). 2009 Jan 1; 70 (1): 161-8.

ContextA method based on the two GH dependent markers, IGF-I and procollagen III peptide (P-III-P) has been proposed to detect exogenously administered GH. As previous studies involved predominantly white European elite athletes, it is necessary to validate the method in other ethnic groups.ObjectiveTo examine serum IGF-I and P-III-P in elite athletes of different ethnicities within 2 h of competing at national or international events.DesignCross-sectional observational study.SettingNational and International sporting events.Subjects1085 elite athletes of different ethnicities.InterventionSerum IGF-I and P-III-P were measured and GH-2000 discriminant function score was calculated. Effect of ethnicity was assessed.ResultsIn men, IGF-I was 21.7 +/- 2.6% lower in Afro-Caribbeans than white Europeans (P < 0.0001) but there were no differences between other ethnic groups. In women, IGF-I was 14.2 +/- 5.1% lower in Afro-Caribbeans (P = 0.005) and 15.6 +/- 7.0% higher in Orientals (P = 0.02) compared with white Europeans. P-III-P was 15.2 +/- 3.5%, 26.6 +/- 6.6% and 19.3 +/- 5.8% lower in Afro-Caribbean (P < 0.0001), Indo-Asian (P < 0.0001) and Oriental men (P = 0.001), respectively, compared with white European men. In women, P-III-P was 15.7 +/- 4.7% lower in Afro-Caribbeans compared to white Europeans (P =0.0009) but there were no differences between other ethnicities. Despite these differences, most observations were below the upper 99% prediction limits derived from white European athletes. All GH-2000 scores lay below the cut-off limit proposed for doping.ConclusionsThe GH-2000 detection method based on IGF-I and P-III-P would be valid in all ethnic groups.

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