Endocrine Abstracts

Background: AGHD is a recognized clinical entity, but symptoms are quite nonspecific; the lack of objective tools able to measure patients’ health status remains the main barrier in clinical monitoring and treatment.

Aim: The MAGHD Study aims improving AGHD patients’ management through a Smartphone app (MAGHDApp) and a fit-watch integrated with a software framework able to merge daily data of patients’ well-being and physical activity with clinical data collected in institutional databases, giving feedbacks to both patients and clinicians.

Methods: Eighty-three AGHD patients (31 Females, 52 Males, mean age 56.27+14.68 years) referring to a single endocrinological center entered the 24-months study. During the first year, AGHD patients performed biannual clinical visits with clinical, biochemical and multidimensional assessment through validated questionnaires (QoL-AGHDA, QLS-H, IIEF-15, FSFI, WEMWBS, IPAQ, PSQI). In parallel, MAGHDApp was developed to daily collect patient reported outcomes (PRO) derived from answers to questionnaires; moreover, a web-platform was exploited to collect data from fit-watch (number of steps, calories burned and hours of sleep). During the second year, patients were invited to use MAGHD technologies recording data, independently from patients’ biannual visits. Up-to-now, only data from MAGHDApp have been analyzed.

Results: Fifty-eight patients (70%, mean age 59.9±13.3) entered the second phase using MAGHD technology (MAGHDGroup), the other 25 (30%, mean age 64.4±14.8) were monitored in the second phase as well as in the first. Patients of MAGHDGroup were younger than the others (P<0.05), with no differences in gender distribution between the two groups (P=0.09). During the second year, each questionnaire was sent to patients 6 times and MAGHDplatform collected about 12.000 PRO. Globally, the mean response rate was 60%, no differences were registered according to the type of questionnaire addressed (QoL-AGHDA=62%, QLS-H=62%, IIEF-15=58%, FSFI=60%, WEMWBS=61%, IPAQ=58% and PSQI=57%). 66% of questions were answered within 3 h from sending.

Conclusions: This real-life study suggests innovative and technological solutions for management of AGHD patients. These preliminary data document the feasibility of this kind of monitoring, especially in young AGHD patients, and a fair patients’ adherence. PRO from MAGHDApp seems to guarantee a reliable, daily monitoring of patients’ well-being. This information, coupled with physical activity data, could make patients directly involved in the healthcare process and help clinicians in AGHD management and follow-up.

Acknowledgment: This clinical study is conducted thanks to the competitive assignment of an Independent Grant for Learning & Change, Dissemination & Implementation by Pfizer Inc.