Growth hormone treatment adherence in prepubertal and pubertal children with different growth disorders.

Background/aims: Treatment of children with growth disorders with recombinant human growth hormone is necessary for improved outcomes, including final height.

Methods: Adherence data from the Observational Study Saizen®-online, recorded with the easypod™ device collected between October 2009 and May 2011, were analyzed in pediatric patients receiving recombinant human growth hormone treatment for a variety of growth disorders.

Results: Data from 75 children (46 boys, 29 girls) with different growth disorders were analyzed over a period of 343 ± 201 (SD) days. Boys and girls showed similar mean ± SD adherence rates of 90.5 ± 3.1% and 92.2 ± 10.7%, respectively. Pubertal children (n = 41) had a significantly lower adherence rate (89.1 ± 13.7%) than prepubertal children (n = 29) (96.5 ± 3.9%; p < 0.005). There were nonsignificant differences in adherence rates according to diagnosis: growth hormone deficiency (n = 48) 91.4 ± 11.0%, small for gestational age (n = 18) 91.1 ± 15.3%, Turner syndrome (n = 6) 86.0 ± 14.5%, and chronic renal failure (n = 3) 99.3 ± 1.0%, although the latter two groups were small.

Conclusion: Our data indicate that only a small number of pediatric patients using the easypod device had poor adherence to treatment. Further reliable adherence data are required to identify factors affecting long-term adherence in this population.