Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Prolonged exposure to excessive concentrations of GH and IGF-1 in acromegaly continues to affect patients’ appearance and negatively influences their self-evaluation, personal relations and morbidity. Besides chronic GH/IGF-1 excess could be deleterious to the brain through many mechanisms.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of acromegaly on the prevalence and the severity of depressive symptoms in patients with cured or controlled and uncontrolled disease in own material.

Material and methods: The study group comprised 56 patients with acromegaly. On the basis of GH and IGF-1 levels the whole group was divided into two subgroups: with controlled/cured and with uncontrolled acromegaly. The presence and severity of depression were assessed on the basis of Beck Depression Inventory II.

Results: The mean score of BDI-II was 13.43±10.41. There was no significant difference in the severity of depressive symptoms between patients with cured/controlled and uncontrolled acromegaly (P=0.620), with micro and macroadenomas or with and without hypopituitarism. There were no significant correlations between BDI-II scores and GH or IGF-1 levels, patients’ age or duration of the illness.

Conclusions: In acromegalic patients depression rates are higher than in healthy people, even if remission had been attained. This indicates the need for an early diagnosis, before the development of advanced complications and significant changes in patients’ appearance. In order to optimize the management, dimensions that reflect mental state and quality of life should be evaluated. In some cases providing emotional support to the patients could be very helpful or even necessary.