Quality of life in children diagnosed with non-classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia

João Ferreira Maria; Rita Moita; Marta  Borges-Canha; Rita Santos Silva; Sofia Ferreira; Carla Costa; Davide Carvalho; Castro-Correia Cíntia

doi:10.1530/endoabs.73.AEP69

AEP69

Prev Next

Section Contents Cite

Endocrine Abstracts (2021) 73 AEP69 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.73.AEP69

ECE2021 Audio Eposter Presentations Adrenal and Cardiovascular Endocrinology (80 abstracts)

Quality of life in children diagnosed with non-classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Maria João Ferreira ¹ , Rita Moita ² , Marta Borges-Canha ³ , Rita Santos Silva ² , Sofia Ferreira ² , Carla Costa ² , Davide Carvalho ³ & Cíntia Castro-Correia ²

Err

Author affiliations

¹Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism of Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João, E.P.E.; ²São João Universitary Hospital Center, Department of Medical Pediatrics, Porto, Portugal; ³São João Universitary Hospital Center, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Porto, Portugal

Introduction

Non-classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia (NC-CAH) is a chronic disease characterized by excessive androgen production. Affected children may have their quality of life negatively affected by the awareness of a medical condition, symptoms of hyperandrogenism and the burden of daily medication administration. Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL) is a validated tool to assess health-related QoL (HRQoL).

Methods

Cross-sectional study involving 16 patients with NC-CAH followed in the pediatric endocrinology department. NC-CAH patients whose parents were literate and who agreed to participate were included. Anthropometric data was collected and PedsQL was applied to the patients and their parents. Patients were divided into five different groups according to age: 2–4, 5–7, 8–12 13–18 years-old. Control group consisted of healthy individuals from the instrument’s validation studies for the Portuguese population (for children aged 5–7 and 8–12) and the standard control population used in the PedsQL validation study (for children aged 2–4 and 13–18).

Results

Overall, there were no differences between the study population and control groups, with the exception of the parent’s score results of children aged 8–12. Its results showed physical health and emotional dimension’ scores significantly higher, while psychosocial health’s score and total scale score were significantly lower than the control group.

Conclusion

HRQoL scores are not negatively affected by NC-CAH on most group ages, with the exception of the parents’ reports on HRQoL of children aged 8–12. Further studies with a greater number of patients are needed to determine the impact of this chronic disease on the HRQoL of children.