Osteoarthritis is the greatest problem of aging population. It concerns particularly women over 65 years of age, in considerable degree limiting their locomotion activity. In recent years many different opinions on pathogenesis of osteoarthritis were presented, among them on the role of some growth factors like IGF-1 and TGF-beta playing an anabolic role in cartilage metabolism. The aim of our study was to compare the concentration of IGF-1 in clinically healthy women and women with coxarthrosis and to evaluate the association between IGF-1 in the serum and synovial fluid in relation to disease etiology. We found that in coxarthrosis of either idiopathic, necrotic or dysplastic etiology serum IGF-1 level was significantly lower than in control women (84.4; 76.1; 86.7 vs. 147.7 microg/ml). Concentration of IGF-1 in different groups of patients was similar or lower in synovial fluid than in the serum. Consistently decreased IGF-1 was found in synovial fluid (42.3 microg/ml) of patients with coxarthosis of necrotic origin. Our results suggest that low IGF-1 values, especially in synovial fluid, are in association with type of osteoarthritic changes within the joint, independently on age.