Objective: To describe in a real-life setting the treatment burden and adherence, and quality of life of children treated with daily injections of growth hormone, and their relationship with treatment duration.
Design: This non-interventional, multicenter, cross-sectional French study involved children aged 3 to 17 years treated with daily growth hormone injections.
Methods: Based on a recent validated dyad questionnaire, the mean overall Life Interference total score (100=most interference) was described, with treatment adherence and quality of life (QOL) using the Quality of Life of Short Stature Youth questionnaire (100=best). All analyses were performed according to treatment duration prior to inclusion.
Results: Among the 275/277 analyzed children, 166 (60.4%) had only growth hormone deficiency (GHD). In the GHD group, mean age was 11.7±3.2 years; median treatment duration was 3.3 years (IQR 1.8-6.4). The mean overall Life Interference total score was 27.7±20.7 (95% CI [24.2;31.2]), with non-significant correlation with treatment duration (p=0.1925). Treatment adherence was good (95.0% of children reported receiving >80% of planned injections over the last month); it slightly decreased with treatment duration (p=0.0364). Children overall QOL was good: 81.5±16.6 and 77.6±18.7 according to children and parents, respectively, but sub scores of the coping and treatment impact domains were <50. Similar results were observed in all patients independently of the condition requiring treatment.
Conclusions: This real-life French cohort confirms the treatment burden of daily growth hormone injections, as previously reported in an interventional study.