Development and Validation of a Self-assessment System Based on a Mobile App to Manage Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency

Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency (AGHD) is a recognized clinical entity but several barriers concerning patient-clinician communication, inadequate patients' awareness of the disease, low perceived benefit of replacement therapy and poor compliance still remains. The overall goal of the study is to improve AGHD management through a Smartphone app (MAGHD App: Manage Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency) integrated with a software framework able to merge patients daily data on physical activity, quality of life (QoL), and well-being with clinical data collected in institutional databases. The target population consists of 100 patients with a previous diagnosis of AGHD, whether in treatment with growth hormone or not. In a prospective 24 months study, MAGHD App will be developed and connected to MAGHD Framework. This system will allow to integrate: 1) Physical Activity Data collected by wearable devices, 2) Patient Related Outcomes Data, periodically inserted by the patients through MAGHD App in response to questions extrapolated from validated questionnaires, 3) HCP Data registered in clinical databases and including medical history, biochemical and radiological examination. Data will converge in MAGHD Framework where they will be analyzed and used to create reports visible to patients (in MAGHD App) and clinicians (by a monitoring dashboard). The results are expected to positively influence AGHD management by involving patients in care process and giving clinicians a useful tool for clinical practice.