Gonadotrophin Treatment Associated with Improved Quality of Life in Men with Hypogonadotrophic Hypogonadism

The authors of “Assessment of Quality of Life During Gonadotrophin Treatment for Male Hypogonadotrophic Hypogonadism,” published in Clinical Endocrinology, looked at physical, social, and psychological quality of life indicators in male hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (MHH) patients who underwent gonadotrophin treatment.

For the study, 37 Japanese patients with male hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism were treated with either gonadotrophin (n=31) or testosterone (n=6) for up to two years. Participants were asked to complete a SF-36 questionnaire at baseline, and every six months for the two-year treatment period. Investigators assessed changes in SF-36 scores across domains, as well as “the associations between improvements and patient factors.

The authors reported that participants had lower than normal scores across all eight SF-36 domains at baseline. Over the course of the treatment period, “mean scores for physical function (PF), role-physical (RP), general health (GH), vitality (VT), role-emotional (RE) and mental health (MH) significantly increased” in patients undergoing gonadotrophin treatment, with changes being “particularly noticeable in the psychological domains.”

The authors also reported that “GH, VT, RE, and MH exhibited large increases 18 months after treatment. Testosterone treatment increased only PF and RP domains. In patients with sperm in their ejaculate, the improvements in GH, VT, RE and MH were significantly greater than those who did not exhibit sperm.”

Based on these results, the researchers concluded that “gonadotrophin treatment for MHH was associated with significant improvements in SF-36 domains. Gonadotrophin treatment could prevent negative physical and psychological sequelae in the management of MHH.”