ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Children diagnosed with growth retardation (short stature - nanosom) face the same social and psychological challenges during their development as their healthy peers, with the difference that they also have to cope with difficulties arising from their condition.

Objective: The aimof our study was to assess the impact of growth retardation on quality of life, paying particular attention to differences between hormone-treated and follow-up children, and to compare data from two chronic diseases—short stature and diabetes mellitus (DM)—both treated similarly with subcutaneous injections.

Method: The sample consisted of children treated at the Endocrinology and Diabetology outpatient clinic of University of Debrecen between 2007 and 2023. The nanosom sample consisted of 110 individuals, including 69 boys/41 girls, of whom 58 were treated and 52 were followed up. The average age of the children was 12 (SD±4.3) year. The DM group consisted of 114 children. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) questionnaire was used to assess quality of life, considering physical, emotional, and social well-being, as well as school functioning.

Results: According to the survey results, the average quality of life for nanosom children was 76.2%. Contrary to expectations, the quality of life for hormone-treated children - 74.8% did not show a significant difference compared to untreated patients 77.8% (P = 0.32). Regarding gender, boys (77.4%) experienced the negative effects less than girls (74.2%), but no significant difference was found (P = 0.3). Based on the results, it was confirmed that children under 12 years of age (77.5%) rated their condition more positively than their older (75.0%) counterparts (P = 0.4). Responses to the modules showed that the most negatively affected factors were emotion and school functioning. There was a discrepancy between parents and their children, with parental responses (75.4%) indicating lower values than children's self-reports (76.2% - P = 0.7). Regarding injection treatment, children with DM (76.7%) showed better scores than their growth hormone-treated counterparts (74.8% - P = 0,77). The only significant difference (P = 0.001) between the two group’s data was observed in the social module.

Conclusion: The results for the short stature children fall short of full quality of life. In terms of gender, boys are less negatively affected by their illness, and children under 12 show better results. Considering injection treatment, we did not find significant difference, but overall, children with DM showed higher scores. Our research highlights the need for greater attention to emotional support therapy and school acceptance for children diagnosed with growth retardation.