Research

Hormonal

Adult-onset GH deficiency (AO) patients exhibit significantly greater psychosocial distress and greater improvements in quality of life (physical mobility, energy) following GH therapy compared to childhood-onset (CO) patients, who show no consistent long-term QoL benefits.

If you were diagnosed with GH deficiency as an adult, you are likely to see significant improvements in your energy levels and physical mobility after starting treatment. However, if your deficiency started in childhood, you may not experience these same quality of life benefits, even if your body composition improves. This is because your body adapted to the deficiency during your development, whereas adult-onset patients lose a previously normal state.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Nottingham Health Profile scores showed significant improvements in physical mobility and energy at 18 months of therapy in AO patients but no consistent effects in CO patients.
Andrea Attanasio et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 1997

Why this rating

Large multicenter randomized controlled trial (n=173) with placebo-controlled double-blind phase and long-term open-label follow-up.

Source

Adult Growth Hormone (GH)-Deficient Patients Demonstrate Heterogeneity Between Childhood Onset and Adult Onset Before and During Human GH Treatment<sup>1</sup>

Andrea Attanasio et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 1997

DOI 10.1210/jcem.82.1.3643

rct · n=173Cited 382×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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