ESPE Abstracts

Background: Coping with a chronic medical condition requiring prolonged treatment may have an effect on psychological adaptation and self-esteem of patients.

Objective and hypotheses: To identify key factors that influence self-perception and well-being in children and adolescents on GH therapy.

Method: A prospective study with the use of validated questionnaires SPP (the Greek version). The patient cohort included 272 Greek children and adolescents (183 males, 89 females), with mean age 13.7 (5.5) years and mean duration of GH treatment 3.4 (3.1) years. Student’s t-tests and ANOVA were computed for the comparison of mean values. Pearson correlations coefficients were used to explore the association of two continuous variables.

Results: Mean score for ‘Relationships with peers’ was 3.13 (S.D.=0.53), for ‘Relationships with parents’ was 3.03 (S.D.=0.60), for ‘Athletic competence’ was 3.16 (S.D.=0.66), and for ‘Physical appearance’ was 2.83 (S.D.=0.60). Also, mean score for ‘Self-esteem’ was 3.28 (S.D.=0.50), for ‘Attitude’ was 2.96 (S.D.=0.57), for ‘Close friends’ was 3.00 (S.D.=0.62) and for ‘Emotional relationships’ was 2.73 (S.D.=0.61). All scores were positively correlated with each other indicating the close relationship among all studied parameters (P<0.050). Males were found to have better relationship with peers, better athletic competence and worse attitude than females (P=0.010; P=0.013 and P=0.023 respectively). Participants living in urban areas had significantly better relationship with their parents compared to those living in rural areas (P=0.034). Mothers’ high educational level was positively related with participants’ self-esteem and opinion about their physical appearance (P=0.025 and P<0.001 respectively). Fathers’ low educational level was negatively associated with patients’ attitude (P=0.043). Age and socioeconomic status were not significantly associated with any of the self-perception scores.

Conclusion: Children on GH therapy score above average concerning relationships with parents and peers and have good athletic competence. Sexual dimorphism was appreciated regarding relationships with peers, athletic competence and attitude.