Normative values for the hypoparathyroidism patient questionnaire (HPQ28) in the German general population.

Background: Patients with hypoparathyroidism (HypoPT) suffer from several complaints and reduced quality of life (QoL), even if disease-specific biochemical parameters are within the target range. To be able to quantify symptoms in HypoPT patients, we recently developed a disease-specific questionnaire, the Hypoparathyroidism Patient Questionnaire with 28 items (HPQ28). The aim of this study was to find normative values for the HPQ28 in the German general population.

Methods: We tasked an independent market and social research institute to obtain sociodemographic data and HPQ28 results from a representative sample of the German general population. The HPQ28 comprises five scales and three single items. The five scales indicate different areas of complaints: Pain and cramps (PaC) including five items, neurovegetative symptoms (NVS) including five items, loss of vitality (LoV) including six items, depression and anxiety (DaA) including five items, gastro-intestinal symptoms (GiS) including two items and two control items for depression. Three items were not attributable to any of the five scales: numbness and tingling in certain parts of the body (NT), troubled memory (TM), and racing heart (RH).

Results: Mean age (± standard deviation) in the representative general population sample (n = 2506) was 49.5 ± 17.8 years, 51% were female. All scales and single items were affected by gender with women presenting significantly more complaints on every scale and single item in comparison to men (p < 0.01, Mann-Whitney U test). In addition, all scales and single items, except for GiS, were affected by age in males and females (p < 0.001, Spearman's correlation). Regression analyses proved a linear trend in the different scores regarding age and gender (p < 0.05 except for age on the GiS scale).

Conclusions: We present data from the first application of the HPQ28 in a representative sample of the German general population. Almost all scales and single item of the HPQ28 were dependent on age and gender, with older individuals and females presenting a higher burden of complaints.

Trial registration: DRKS, DRKS00027581. Registered 17th of January 2022, https//drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00027581.