Influences on quality of life in GH deficient adults and their effect on response to treatment

Abstract

Baseline QOL as assessed by self-rating questionnaires is influenced by the age of onset of the GH deficiency, adult onset patients expressing the greater distress. Improvements in QOL scores are influenced by both baseline score and to a lesser extent the age of onset of GHD, the greater improvement being observed in childhood onset patients. The degree of improvement was observed to be independent of gender, pathology and number of pituitary hormone deficits. In a cohort selected by subjectively impaired QOL, we have demonstrated childhood onset GHD patients perceive themselves to have less impairment of QOL pretreatment. In contrast to previous data in unselected cohorts, however, we have shown that those childhood onset GHD patients in whom QOL is significantly reduced, show a capacity for improvement that is equal to, if not greater, than that seen in adult onset-GHD patients.