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For women with Turner syndrome, growth hormone (GH) treatment in childhood is not associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL), according to study results published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
The study included women with Turner syndrome who were monitored every 5 years between 1995 and 2018 (n = 200). The study also included women from the World Health Organization MONICA (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants for Cardiovascular Disease) project as reference populations. The researchers aimed to assess the HRQoL of women with Turner syndrome, focusing on how GH treatment and comorbidity influence HRQoL in adulthood. They used the Psychological General Well-Being index and the Nottingham Health Profile to assess HRQoL.
The age range of participants with Turner syndrome was 16 to 71 years (average age at baseline, 28 ± 11 years). Although treatment with GH was associated with a mean increase of 5.7 cm in height, it was not associated with any measurement of HRQoL in Turner syndrome. HRQoL was only associated with height in 1 of 13 subscales (P <.01).
For women with Turner syndrome, the results indicated that HRQoL was negatively affected by higher age, higher age at diagnosis, and hearing impairment. However, women with Turner syndrome had a similar HRQoL compared with the reference population. These results remained consistent at baseline and after 10, 15, and 20 years of follow-up.
“No association between HRQoL and GH treatment in childhood was found after age adjustment despite the average 5.7 cm taller final height in adult women with [Turner syndrome]. HRQoL was not associated with genotype, body composition, hypothyroidism or the presence of cardiovascular malformations, i.e. the main stigmatas of [Turner syndrome] after up to 20-years of follow-up,” the researchers wrote.
Reference
Krantz E, Landin-Wilhelmsen K, Trimpou P, Bryman I, Wide U. Health-related quality of life in Turner Syndrome and the influence of growth hormone therapy: a 20-year follow-up [published online April 22, 2019]. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. doi:10.1210/jc.2019-00340
