Endocrine Abstracts

Acromegaly is a chronic disease with an important impact on patients, health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Acromegaly quality of life questionnaire (AcroQoL) is a disease-generated QoL questionnaire comprising 22 questions each having five possible responses scored 1–5, the maximum score of 110 reflecting best possible QOL, and quoted as a percentage. The 22 items break down into two categories, physical and psychological function, the latter being subdivided into appearance and personal relationships. We aimed to investigate the factors affecting the QoL in acromegalic patients by using AcroQoL. We have performed a cross-sectional study in 65 acromegalic patients (37 males, 28 females). Age (mean±S.D.: 44.75±10.81 years), BMI (mean±S.D.: 29.77±4.20 kg/m²), disease duration (median (IQR): 48 (12–103) months), basal GH (median (IQR): 1.66 (0.69–6.05) ng/dl), nadir GH (median (IQR): 1.13 (0.47–4.80) ng/dl), and IGF1 (median (IQR): 311 (199–504.5) ng/dl) were evaluated. Comorbidities were as follows: diabetes 27.7%, hypertension 43.1%, hyperlipidemia 32.3%, and hypopituitarism 29.2%. 55 patients (84.6%) underwent transsphenoidal surgery (TSS), gamma-knife radiosurgery (GKS) was performed in 39 (60%) patients and 41 (63.1%) patients were on somatostatin anlogue (SA) treatment. Disease control was evaluated by IGF1 (referance values per age) and GH levels (random GH <1 ng/dl in patients on SA and nadir GH <0.4 ng/dl in patients not on SA). 24 (36.9%) patients were under control according to IGF1 criteria, while 20 (30.8%) patients. were under control according to GH criteria. No correlation was found between AcroQoL scores and any of the parameters. AcroQoL scores were lower in patients with diabetes (52 vs 67, P<0.05) and who had radiotherapy (59 vs 75, P<0.05). However, patients who underwent TSS had higher scores (66 vs 39, P<0.05). In conclusion, TSS, GKS and co-existing diabetes were the only factors affecting acromegaly related QoL.