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. 2022 Jun 30:13:882192.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.882192. eCollection 2022.

Integrated Digital Health Solutions in the Management of Growth Disorders in Pediatric Patients Receiving Growth Hormone Therapy: A Retrospective Analysis

Vincenzo Tornincasa  1 , David Dixon  1 , Quentin Le Masne  1 , Blaine Martin  1 , Lilian Arnaud  1 , Paula van Dommelen  2 , Ekaterina Koledova  3
Affiliations

Integrated Digital Health Solutions in the Management of Growth Disorders in Pediatric Patients Receiving Growth Hormone Therapy: A Retrospective Analysis

Vincenzo Tornincasa et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Digital health has seen rapid advancements over the last few years in helping patients and their healthcare professionals better manage treatment for a variety of illnesses, including growth hormone (GH) therapy for growth disorders in children and adolescents. For children and adolescents requiring such therapy, as well as for their parents, the treatment is longitudinal and often involves daily injections plus close progress monitoring; a sometimes daunting task when young children are involved. Here, we describe our experience in offering devices and digital health tools to support GH therapy across some 40 countries. We also discuss how this ecosystem of care has evolved over the years based on learnings and advances in technology. Finally, we offer a glimpse of future planned enhancements and directions for digital health to play a bigger role in better managing conditions treated with GH therapy, as well as model development for adherence prediction. The continued aim of these technologies is to improve clinical decision making and support for GH-treated patients, leading to better outcomes.

Keywords: adherence monitoring; digital health; growth hormone treatment; patient engagement; pediatric endocrinology.

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Conflict of interest statement

VT, DD, QM, BM, and LA are employees of Ares Trading SA (an affiliate of Merck KGaA), Eysins, Switzerland. PD has a consultancy agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. EK is an employee of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and holds shares in the company. The authors declare that this study received funding from Merck (CrossRef Funder ID: 10.13039/100009945). The funder had the following involvement in the study: study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, and preparation of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Growth hormone digital health ecosystem.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Physician views of the easypod™ connect system.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Views of the growlink™ patient app.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Number of patients (A), number of injections transmitted (B), number of countries (C), and number of countries with active patients (D), in the easypod™ connect database from release in 2007 to end of 2020.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The proportion of patients with high adherence (≥85%) from 2010 to end of 2020, stratified by region, by year (A), and between 0–36 months of GH therapy (B).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Mean catch-up growth (ΔHSDS) between 0–48 months stratified by high, intermediate, and low adherence.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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