COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS AND MOOD DISTURBANCES IN GROWTH-HORMONE DEFICIENT MEN

In order to establish whether reported psychological complaints in hyp opituitary adults are related to growth hormone(GH) deficiency or othe r pituitary hormone deficiencies, emotional well-being and cognitive p erformance were evaluated in 31 men with multiple pituitary hormone de ficiencies (MPHD) and in 17 men with isolated growth hormone deficienc y (IGHD). Assessments included evaluation of somatic and psychological complaints, depression, fatigue, vigor, tension, state and trait anxi ety, iconic memory, short-term memory, long-term memory and perceptual -motor skill. The control group consisted of 41 healthy men, matched f or age. Growth hormone secretion was more severely impaired in MPHD th an in IGHD patients. Despite oral replacement therapy, MPHD patients a lso had lower serum testosterone levels than IGHD subjects. The MPHD p atients were found to have lower vigor scores, higher state anxiety sc ores, worse perceptual-motor skill and worse memory performance than c ontrols. In contrast, IGHD patients only showed subnormal memory perfo rmance. It was concluded, therefore, that the cognitive impairment in both MPHD and IGHD was related to GH deficiency. The subnormal vigor s cores in MPHD patients were attributed to the reduced testosterone lev els. The worse perceptual-motor skill in MPHD patients might be relate d specifically to ACTH deficiency. Finally, the higher state anxiety i n MPHD was attributed to a low self-esteem, which may be the psycholog ical consequence of the hypogonadal appearance these patients have. We conclude that, from a psychological point of view, MPHD and IGHD adul t patients are quite distinct groups. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd.