Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Patients with permanent hypoparathyroidism suffer from multiple complaints and are exposed to long-term complications that compromise their well-being. The aim of our study was to assess the quality of life in patients with permanent hypoparathyroidism receiving conventional vitaminocalcic therapy.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional case-control study including 53 patients with permanent hypoparathyroidism and 53 age-sex-body mass index matched controls. Clinical and biochemical parameters were collected. Quality of life was assessed in all participants using the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36).

Results: Among patients with hypoparathyroidism, there were 41 (77 %) women and 12 (23 %) men with a mean age of 52.7 ± 16.5 years. Neck surgery was the most common etiology of hypoparathyroidism (n=34, 64 %). In comparison with age-sex-body mass index matched controls, hypoparathyroid patients had significantly lower scores in all eight domains of SF-36 (P <10^-3). Patients with postsurgical hypoparathyroidism scored worse than those with non-surgical etiologies in all domains, but significance was reached only in bodily pain score (P=0.01). All SF-36 scores were negatively correlated with the age. However, Sex, smoking, duration of the disease, adherence to treatment and body mass index did not significantly interfere with SF-36 scores. Hypoparathyroid patients in whom PTH level < 10 pg/ml scored worse in all SF-36 domains compared with those who had PTH level > 10 pg/ml, without reaching significance. Magnesium level was positively correlated with SF-36 scores. No significant correlations were found between SF-36 scores and biological parameters such as calcemia, phosphatemia, phosphocalcic product, TSH, 25 OH vitamin D, 24 hours calciuria, and creatinine clearance.

Conclusion: Compared with matched controls, patients with permanent hypoparathyroidism, especially post-surgical ones, suffer from a major impairment of quality of life, suggesting that conventional treatment, even if it’s well conducted, fails to restore well-being.