THE AIM: to assess quality of life (QoL) and profile of mood states in patients with childhood-onset hypopituitarism and growth hormone (GH) deficiency during the discontinuation of recombinant growth hormone (rGH) replacement therapy at the transition from adolescence to adulthood. METHODS: mood states and QoL were assessed in 136 (85 men, 51 women, age 16.8 ± 1.1 years) patients during discontinuation of rGH replacement and 82 (40 men, 42 women, age 16.5 ± 1.7 years) control individuals using the Profile of Mood States2 (POMS2) and the Quality of Life - Assessment of Growth Hormone Deficiency in Adults (QoL-AGHDA) questionnaires. RESULTS: No difference in QoL was between patients and controls, but patients had higher levels of tension-anxiety (median 9.0 score vs. 6.0 score, p <
0.001), depression-dejection (median 9.0 score vs. 8.0 score, p = 0.042), fatigue-inertia (median 9.0 score vs. 6.0 score, p <
0.001), confusion-bewilderment (median 4.0 score vs. 3.0 score, p = 0.003) than controls. Basal cortisol concentration correlated negatively with QoL-AGHDA score (r = -0.288, p = 0.012), depression-dejection score (r = -0.317, p = 0.005). Height correlated negatively with anger-hostility (r = -0.223, p = 0.010), fatigue-inertia (r = -0.188, p = 0.030) scores. Body mass index (BMI) correlated positively with fatigue-inertia score (r = 0.181, p = 0.040). Age at the discontinuation of rGH replacement correlated negatively with QoL-AGHDA score (r = -0.204, p = 0.026), depression-dejection (r = -0.460, p = 0.021), anger-hostility (r = -0.190, p = 0.040), fatigue-inertia (r = -0.205, p = 0.026) scores. CONCLUSION: mood states (higher tension-anxiety, depression-dejection, fatigue-inertia, confusion-bewilderment), but not disease-specific QoL are impaired in patients with childhood-onset growth hormone deficiency during the discontinuation of rGH replacement therapy at the transition from adolescence to adulthood.