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. 2023 Sep:260:113460.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113460. Epub 2023 May 11.

Patient and Parent Characteristics Related to Quality of Life and Self-Esteem in Healthy Youth Undergoing Provocative Growth Hormone Testing

Adda Grimberg  1 , Elizabeth A Friedrich  2 , Walter Faig  3 , Camilia Kamoun  4 , Ettya R Fremont  2 , Rui Xiao  5 , Victoria A Miller  6
Affiliations

Patient and Parent Characteristics Related to Quality of Life and Self-Esteem in Healthy Youth Undergoing Provocative Growth Hormone Testing

Adda Grimberg et al. J Pediatr. 2023 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: To examine how height and youth as well as parenting characteristics associate with quality of life (QoL) and self-esteem among healthy youth undergoing growth evaluation with growth hormone (GH) testing.

Study design: Healthy youth, aged 8-14 years, undergoing provocative GH testing, and a parent completed surveys at or around the time of testing. Surveys collected demographic data; youth and parent reports of youth health-related QoL; youth reports of self-esteem, coping skills, social support, and parental autonomy support; and parent reports of perceived environmental threats and achievement goals for their child. Clinical data were extracted from electronic health records. Univariate models and multivariable linear regressions were used to identify factors associated with QoL and self-esteem.

Results: Sixty youth (mean height z score -2.18 ± 0.61) and their parents participated. On multivariable modeling, youth perceptions of their physical QoL associated with higher grade in school, greater friend and classmate support, and older parent age; youth psychosocial QoL with greater friend and classmate support, and with less disengaged coping; and youth height-related QoL and parental perceptions of youth psychosocial QoL with greater classmate support. Youth self-esteem associated with greater classmate support and taller mid-parental height. Youth height was not associated with QoL or self-esteem outcomes in multivariable regression.

Conclusions: Perceived social support and coping skills, rather than height, were related to QoL and self-esteem in healthy short youth and may serve as an important potential area for clinical intervention.

Keywords: growth hormone; pediatric; quality of life; short stature.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest This study was funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant 1 R01 HD097129 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (A.G. and V.M., co-PI). The NIH played no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. A.G. received the 2020 Growth Hormone Research Competitive Grant Program Award from Pfizer, Inc. A.G. and C.K. were consultants for an educational symposium for medical staff of Pfizer, Inc. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

References

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