The Burden of Hypopituitarism in Adults after Pituitary Surgery

The burden of illness was assessed in 183 hypopituitary patients, with growth hormone deficiency, who had received pituitary surgery at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège, Belgium. The Short-Form 36 (SF-36) was used to assess health status, and the Health and Labour Questionnaire was used to obtain data on production loss and reduced labout performance. Data on medical consumption were also collected. The overall response rate was 72 %. Hypopituitary patients reported a lower health status than that of the mean population in all but two dimensions of the SF-36 (bodily pain and physical functioning). A relativelu high percentage of hypopituitary patients reported being incapacitated for paid employment, and those in paid employment reported higher absence rates compared with reference data. However, while at work there was no indication that hypopituitary patients perform less well due to health problems than the average population. Healthcare costs for hypopituitary patients who had undergone pituitary surgery were higher than for the reference population.