Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Acromegaly is a rare chronic disease caused by growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 type (IRF-1) excess. However, reaching biochemical control of the disease does not always guarantee the improvement of symptoms that play a significant role in the quality of life associated with human health (HRQoL), in particular, patients with acromegaly.

Goal: To investigate the quality of life in patients with acromegaly in the Moscow region.

Material and methods: The study included 114 patients aged 18 to 83 years (average age 56 years (13.6; 25.2)). All patients were divided into two groups by age - over 50 (n=77) and/or under 50 (n=38). Also, the patients were divided into groups, depending on the previous treatment. All patients were divided into two groups: uncontrolled current (active acromegaly) and controlled for (acromegaly in remission based on the previously proposed remission criteria. The data are presented as a median (range). Changes in the levels of GH and IGF-1, as well as the AcroQoL score, were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The quality of life of patients with controlled and uncontrolled disease is no different (or maybe better this way: There is no difference between the QOL in patients with controlled and uncontrolled acromegaly). The IGF-1 level and the percentage of excess IGF-1 significantly correlated with the parameter “personal relationship” (P=0.026/0.05). For other hormonal parameters and quality of life significant correlations were not received (P> 0.05). Surgical treatment and radiation therapy do not affect the QOL of patients, and therapy ASS effect on QOL only in the parameter “physical score” (P=0.034). In the group of patients who did not receive treatment earlier, QOL parameters “total score” and “physical score” is higher than in the group of patients receiving therapy.

The conclusion: Treatment either does not affect the quality of life (surgical, radiation, for example) or worsens it. This can be explained by the fact that there are no fast, instantly noticeable results of using modern methods of acromegalic therapy, and complications from them are manifested rather distinctly. As a result, the patient may get the impression that his quality of life has worsened, despite the fact that in the long term the appropriateness of the specific treatment is absolutely proven.

Keywords: Quality of life, acromegaly, IRF-1, GR, register, AcroQoL