Health-related quality of life of female patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia in Malaysia.
BACKGROUND
This study investigates the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of female patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in Malaysia. The objectives were to attain socio-demographic and medical data on these Malaysian females with CAH and establish their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in comparison to age matched diabetic controls.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted over 6 months in the two main tertiary centres for CAH patients in Malaysia. Participants including 59 female-raised CAH patients (mean age ± SD = 16.3 ± 4.2 years, range 10-28 years) compared to 57 age-matched female diabetic patients (mean age ± SD = 16.5 ± 3.4 years, range 10-26 years). Socio-demographic and medical profiles was obtained through semi-structured interviews. HRQOL of participants were evaluated utilising validated, Malay translated questionnaires which were age appropriate: Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL v4.0) scales for Child (8-12) and Adolescent (13-18) and Medical Outcome Survey 36-item Short Form version. These were then compared to the diabetic controls.


RESULTS
The CAH participants consisted of children (ages 10-12 years, n = 12), adolescents (ages 13-17 years, n = 29) and adults (≥ 18 years, n = 18). The majority were Malays (64.4%) and had salt-wasting CAH (67.8%). There were no significant differences between the total mean score of the HRQOL of the combined children and adolescents CAH group (total mean score ± SD = 81.6 ± 17.9, 95% CI = 75.6-87.6) when compared to age-matched diabetic patients (total mean score ± SD = 80.8 ± 11.0, 95% CI = 77.0-84.5, P = 0.81, effect size = 0.05); no significant difference between the adult CAH and diabetic controls in the physical [median score (IQR) CAH vs diabetics; 49.3 (11.4) vs. 50.2 (6.1), P = 0.60, effect size = 0.09] and the mental composite scores [median score (IQR) CAH vs. diabetics; 47.8 (14.1) vs. 50.0 (10.8), P = 0.93, effect size = 0.01].


CONCLUSIONS
The HRQOL of the Malaysian CAH cohort were comparable to the diabetic controls.
['Zainuddin|Ani Amelia|AA|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9463-8050', 'Grover|Sonia Regina|SR|', 'Abdul Ghani|Nur Azurah|NA|', 'Wu|Loo Ling|LL|', 'Rasat|Rahmah|R|', 'Abdul Manaf|Mohd Rizal|MR|', 'Shamsuddin|Khadijah|K|', 'Abdullah Mahdy|Zaleha|Z|']
D000293:Adolescent D000312:Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital D000328:Adult D000367:Age Factors D016022:Case-Control Studies D002648:Child D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D003920:Diabetes Mellitus D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008296:Malaysia D011788:Quality of Life D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D055815:Young Adult
Health-related quality of life Congenital adrenal hyperplasia Disorders of sex development