The aim: Of the study was to investigate the effect of melatonin on the serum levels of ghrelin in patients with hypertension combined with osteoarthritis in order to identify them as informative and reliable markers of early diagnosis of progression of these comorbid diseases.
Material and methods: To achieve the goals and objectives of this study, 60 patients with hypertension combined with osteoarthritis were involved and examined, in particular, serum ghrelin and melatonin levels were determined twice and divided into two groups.
Results: It was found that in patients of group I on the background of the four-week main course of treatment with the addition of melatonin (3 mg 1 time per day before bedtime), the average value of ghrelin increased by an average of ± 2.05 ng/ml (p <0,05). In patients of group II, who, in addition to their usual treatment, did not receive additional melatonin, the dynamics of ghrelin growth was lower, on average increased by ± 0.54 ng/ml (p <0.05). It was also found that the higher the BMI, the lower the serum ghrelin in the examined patients (r = -0.56, p <0.01).
Conclusions: The data obtained show the correlation between ghrelin and melatonin concentrations (r = +0.72, p < 0.001) in patients with hypertension associated with OA. Therefore, indicators of their levels can be used as "early" reliable prognostic markers of development and progression of these mentioned comorbid pathologies.