QUALITY OF LIFE FOR CHILDREN WITH GROWTH HORMONE DEFICIENCY: SIGNIFICANCE OF CLINICAL, PSYCHOEMOTIONAL AND SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS

The work is devoted to assessing the quality of life (QоL) of children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD)  and  determining the correlation between the QoL and clinical, psycho-emotional and socio-demographic factors. A prospective observational cohort study was carried out at the «Odessa Regional Children's Clinical Hospital» among 46 prepubertal children with GHD and 80 healthy children matched for sex and age. The QоL was determined using Peds QL4.0 questionnaires, which were completed by children and their parents. Total psycho-emotional problems, internalizing and externalizing problems were investigated using 2-factor model of the «Strengths and Difficulties Questionaire (SDQ)», which was completed by the child's parents. The indices of the Peds QL4.0 and SDQ scale were fixed at baseline (T0) and after 12 months (T12) therapy with recombinant human growth hormone (rHGH) at an average dose of 0.033 mg/kg/day. The difference between the observed means ± SD in two independent samples were assessed using t-tests and «p» values. The relationship between clinical, psychological, socio-demographic factors and QoL of children with GHD was assessed by the calculation of Spearman’s correlation coefficient (rs).It was found that GHD was the cause for the decrease in the QoLaccording to the «total score» of the Peds QL4.0 scale for children and acccording to the subscales «physical health», «psychosocial health», «emotional functioning», «social functioning», «school functioning». The overall assessment in the SDQ «total difficulties» score increased and the conceptualization of internalizing problems occurred in children with GHD. The 12-months rHGH therapy contributes to the improvement of QoL in children with GHD, the normalization of the psycho-emotional state and the decrease in SDQ «total difficulties» and in «internalizing problems» scores.