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.

DESIGN

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.

CONCLUSION

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.