ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: The success of rhGH therapy is thought to be dependent on the patient's ability to maximally adhere to their treatment regimen.

Aim: To compare the reported (subjective) compliance as it was documented via a questionnaire fulfilled by the parents and/or patients, with actual (objective) compliance as recorded by a delivery device, to rhGH therapy.

Material and Methods: The study population consisted of 84 GH deficient children and adolescents (70 boys) with no underlying disease treated with GH. The reported compliance was recorded through a questionnaire and the actual compliance was retrieved through the special software from the dispenser (EasyPod). The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was used to compare the reported monthly compliance to treatment using the SPSS 25 statistical package.

Results: The mean age of the sample was 12.6 ± 1.9 years and the mean duration of treatment was 1.9 ± 1.5 years. The level of compliance was high (loss of <2 injections per month) in the majority (87.5%).of the patients. There was a moderate degree of agreement between the two measurements, with ICC = 0.531 (95% CI 0.313-0.692) (F (64.64) = 3.588, P = 0.0005). The level of the actual monthly compliance in treatment was positively correlated with the child's age (rs (64) = 0.272, P = 0.030).

Conclusions: Previous data suggest positive correlations between adherence and growth outcome, supporting the clinical relevance of adherence monitoring. Assessment of the degree of compliance with growth hormone treatment is a key to the proper adjustment of the dose and assessment of the efficacy of the treatment. Systematic recording via questionnaires is helpful however the objective recording through the delivery device reveals the real dimensions of the issue.