Riassunto analitico
Introduction: Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency (AGHD) is a chronic clinical syndrome leading both to clinical and biochemical abnormalities. Key manifestations include body composition changes (increased body fat and reduced lean mass), impaired lipid, protein and glucose metabolism, reduced bone mineral density and overall higher cardiovascular risk. Moreover, patients have consistently been shown to perceive a reduction in quality of life (QoL), accounting to ha high prevalence of sleep disturbances, mood imbalances, sexual disfunctions and fatigue.
Aim of the study: The main focus of the study was to compare outcomes concerning body composition, symptoms, biochemical/hormonal data and complications among patients with AGHD referring to a single endocrinological centre and grouped according to their use of MAGHD technologies.
Subjects & Methods: The Management of Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency Study (MAGHD) is a prospective, open-label, single-centre trial aiming to improve AGHD management through a smartphone app (MAGHD App) and a wearable device integrated with a software framework able to merge patients’ daily activity data (steps, hours of sleep, calories burnt) and electronic Patient Reported Outcomes (ePROs) with clinical data collected in institutional databases. A total of 83 AGHD patients were enrolled and followed for 24 months. During the two years, a periodic patient evaluation was carried out: every six months (for a total of 5 times) patients underwent a clinical visit where clinical, biochemical and multidimensional assessments were performed. Furthermore, an annual dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan was executed (for a total of 3 times). After the first year (phase 1) all patients were invited to use MAGHD technologies to record data; 58 patients adhered to MAGHD technologies (group 1) and 25 didn’t (group 2). During the second yar of the studies, patients from group 1 received randomized questions from the questionnaires via the MAGHD App, while group 2 patient continued to fill in questionnaires in paper form. Moreover, daily activity data from group 1 was collected through fit-watches.
Results: Group1 patients showed improved compliance to theraphy after the use of MAGHD technologies, as well as a lesser increase in total comorbidities. No significant difference was found between group 1 and 2 for what concerns biochemical and hormonal data.
Conclusions: The integration of Apps into clinical practice might help to empower chronic patients and have a better insight into their disease status
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