This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
GH therapy offered long-term improvement in quality of life at all ages
Growth hormone replacement therapy provided sustained improvement in quality of life for adults and children with deficiencies, according to research published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Patients’ quality-of-life (QoL) scores neared normality during 10 years in a prospective observational study by Daojun Mo, MD, of Lilly Diabetes, Eli Lilly and Company, in the United States, and colleagues from Europe.
The researchers evaluated 1,436 patients (mean age, 49 years; 49% female) with adult-onset (AO) growth hormone deficiency and 96 patients (mean age, 31.3 years; 60% female) with childhood-onset (CO) growth hormone deficiency.
The investigators quantified QoL based on Questions on Life Satisfaction–Hypopituitarism validated questionnaires and normative data for calculation of z scores, in countries where these were available. Change in QoL was tested at two time points and then predicted by mixed-model repeated measures analysis.
Patients had diminished QoL z scores when the study began (mean AO, –1.55; mean CO, –0.98). QoL improvements were highest in the first year, with a mean rise of 0.77 for AO (P<.001) and 0.5 for CO (P<.001).
The improvements remained statistically significant throughout 10 years for AO and in years 1 to 4, 6 and 7 for CO (P<.05). Greater QoL improvement was predicted in patients who were not depressed, lived in Europe, had poorer z scores at entry, had lower BMI at entry and no impaired vision, based on mixed-model repeated measures.
“The data showed that US patients had poorer QoL at baseline and less improvement than European patients, although improvement in QoL occurred in both groups,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: This work was supported by Eli Lilly and Company, by which several researchers are employed and from which two researchers received consulting fees.