Quality of life before and after 12-months replacement therapy in children with growth hormone deficiency

A systematic review of literature in the Embase, MEDLINE, and Cochrane databases reveals incomplete and contradictory data on the psychosocial consequences of short stature in children, including its impact on quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy on the QoL of children diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). The QoL was considered as an indicator of psychological and social adaptation of the children. Materials and methods. A main group (46 prepubescent children with GHD) was selected and compared to a matched control group (80 healthy children). The group of children with short stature included all children with GHD of the main group and 48 children with idiopathic short stature.The Peds QL4.0 questionnaires for children and parents were used to determine QoL on the scales of “total score”, “physical health”, “psycho-social health”, “emotional functioning”, “social functioning”, and “school functioning”. Statistical processing of the results using the Spearman's correlation coefficient and by estimating the differences between the mean values of two independent variation series by the value of "p" was performed. Results. A more pronounced decrease in QoL was found in children with GHD if they are under 9 years of age compared to their older peers and in children with height SDS