Endocrine Abstracts

Acromegaly is known to be associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Additionally, acromegaly is known to be associated with disordered carbohydrate metabolism. Lipid levels in acromegaly have not been extensively studied. The aim was to study lipid levels in acromegaly.

Methods: In 32 patients with newly diagnosed acromegaly lipid levels were studied. In particular total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels were measured. All patients had a pituitary adenoma. All of them had increased IGF1 levels. The measurements were also performed in 32 control subjects matched for age and sex.

Results: Total cholesterol was 220.59±8.24 mg/dl (mean±S.E.M.) in patients with acromegaly as opposed to 198.55±4.85 mg/dl in the control subjects (p<0.001, Student’s t-test). HDL cholesterol levels were 52.96±2.89 mg/dl in patients with acromegaly as opposed to 58.44±3.62 mg/dl in the control group (P<0.001). LDL cholesterol was 151.70±13.77 mg/dl in the acromegalic patients as opposed to 114.06±5.31 mg/dl in the control group (P<0.001). Triglyceride levels were 140.34±14.79 mg/dl in patients with acromegaly as opposed to 133.50±14.27 mg/dl in the control group (P<0.001). Thus, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels were increased in patients with acromegaly as opposed to the control group, while HDL cholesterol was decreased.

Conclusions: It appears that acromegaly is associated with a proatherogenic lipid profile, which may contribute to the increased cardiovascular risk associated with the disease.