Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Acromegaly is a chronic disease with a serious impact on patients’ morbidity, mortality and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Recently a disease-specific questionnaire assessing HRQOL in acromegaly was developed (AcroQoL). Using this tool we have compared QoL in patients with controlled versus uncontrolled acromegaly.

Patients and methods: It was a prospective, cross-sectional study. For the period 2007–December 2008 163 patients with acromegaly completed the Bulgarian version of the AcroQol in the endocrinology department of our clinics. They were divided into two groups: patients with active acromegaly (n=87, mean age 48.33±12.72) and patients in remission according to the consensus criteria (n=76, mean age 51.51±11.75). Statistical analysis was performed by XPSS version 9, using χ² for categorical data and Student’s t-test for continuous data.

Results: A marked impairment of the patients’ QoL was observed in all scales. However, no statistically significant difference was found between controlled versus the uncontrolled group. Mean total score was 44.59±22.91 vs 50.45±25.94 (P=0.131), mean physical scale score was 38.16±23.03 vs 43.89±26.18 (P=0.143), mean appearance subscale score was 43.85±23.91 vs 49±27.69 and mean personal relations score was 52.80±26.93 vs 59.21±27.95 (P=0.14) in patients in remission and active disease respectively.

Conslusion: Remission status, defined by biochemical criteria, does not ameliorate QoL in patients with acromegaly. There could be several factors influencing impaired QoL and giving directions for further improvement: delayed diagnosis and achievement of remission, relapses of the disease, inadequate approach to the concomitant diseases and complications.