Mortality and socioeconomic status in adults with childhood onset GH deficiency (GHD) is highly dependent on the primary cause of GHD.
OBJECTIVE
Childhood onset GH deficiency (CO-GHD) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality; however, the patients' socioeconomic profile as adults is not fully known.


METHODS
Register study using Danish nationwide registries. Two hundred and sixty GHD males and 156 GHD females and 25,358 male and 15,110 female controls were included.


METHODS
Information was obtained concerning cohabitation, parenthood, education, income, retirement, convictions, and death. Income was analyzed using conditional logistic regression, and other outcomes were analyzed using Cox regression. Subgroups of GHD patients with malignant tumors, craniopharyngioma, idiopathic GHD, and others were investigated separately.


RESULTS
Both male and female GHD patients had a significantly worse outcome on all studied socioeconomic parameters. Fewer GHD patients lived in partnerships and entered them later (male hazard ratio (HR): 0.31; female HR: 0.33), had fewer parenthoods (male HR: 0.26; female HR: 0.26), lower educational level (male HR: 0.58; female HR: 0.48), lower income, higher risk of retirement (male HR: 13.4; female HR: 24.2), and fewer convictions (male HR: 0.67; female HR: 0.49). Mortality was increased (male HR: 10.7; female HR: 21.4). Adjusted for marital and educational status, male HR of death was 5.2 and female HR 10.5. Patients with idiopathic GHD had a socioeconomic profile similar to controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The primary causes of CO-GHD and concomitant diseases severely impair socioeconomic conditions and impact mortality; only the subgroup of patients with idiopathic GHD conditions was similar to the background population.
Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. stochholm@dadlnet.dk
Kirstine
K
Stochholm
Svend
S
Juul
Jens Sandahl
JS
Christiansen
Claus Højbjerg
CH
Gravholt
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000172:deficiency*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010290:Parents; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012042:Registries; D012179:Retirement; D012923:Social Class
D019382:Human Growth Hormone