Emotional health needs attention during growth hormone therapy discontinuation
Although disease-specific quality of life (QoL) remains stable, adolescents with childhood-onset growth hormone deficiency (GHD) experience significant mood disturbances—such as increased anxiety, depression, fatigue, and confusion—during the transition from adolescence to adulthood when discontinuing recombinant growth hormone (rGH) therapy, according to a study.
The study assessed 136 patients with GHD and 82 healthy controls.
Although QoL scores were comparable between patients and controls, patients reported significantly higher levels of tension-anxiety, depression-dejection, fatigue-inertia, and confusion-bewilderment. Notable correlations included:
- Lower basal cortisol associated with poorer QoL and higher depression-dejection scores.
- Height inversely related to anger-hostility and fatigue-inertia scores.
- Higher BMI linked with greater fatigue-inertia.
- Older age at therapy discontinuation correlated with poorer QoL and heightened negative mood states.
The findings emphasize that, although disease-specific QoL remains stable, mood disturbances may challenge adolescents discontinuing rGH therapy.
Reference
Lašaitė L, Matukaitienė R, Navardauskaitė R. Quality of life and profile of mood states in patients with childhood-onset hypopituitarism and growth hormone deficiency during the discontinuation of growth hormone replacement therapy at the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Endocrine. 2024;doi: 10.1007/s12020-024-04111-9. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39586904.
