Endocrine Abstracts

Aims: There is a lack of literature about mental and emotional dysfunction in patients with acromegaly or other pituitary tumours although impaired quality of life is well recognised. We examined whether adult patients with acromegaly experience a lower quality of life (QoL) than adult patients with other pituitary tumours and whether any difference in QoL is attributable to the patient’s perceived body image.

Methods: Medical records were used to identify patients. Forty-one patients with acromegaly and 53 patients with other pituitary tumours were invited to complete three questionnaires: the acromegaly quality of life questionnaire (AcroQoL), the psychological general well-being (PGWB) index, and the body image quality of life inventory (BIQLI). Responses to the questionnaires were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test.

Results: Twenty-five patients with acromegaly and 33 patients with other pituitary tumours completed the three questionnaires (response rate 61%). For all parameters except body image, acromegaly patients showed better outcomes (higher scores reflect more favourable/positive outcome); however, this only reached statistical significance for the AcroQoL questionnaire (68.4 vs 14.0, P<0.01). Acromegaly responders had a non-significant lower body image score compared to ‘other pituitary tumour’ patients (1.1 compared to 1.4 respectively, P=0.83). Body image (BIQLI) and quality of life (AcroQoL and PGWB) showed strong positive correlation (Spearman 0.84 and 0.85 respectively (P<0.01 for both)).

Conclusions: In patients with acromegaly and other pituitary tumours, quality of life is positively correlated with body image. These results suggest quality of life may be better in patients with acromegaly compared to patients with other pituitary tumours. Further research into quality of life in acromegaly and other pituitary tumour patients, and the effect of body image on quality of life, is warranted.