Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction

Acromegaly is a rare chronic disorder caused by GH hypersecretion. It’s associated with an elevated morbidity and mortality rate. Cardiovascular diseases’ complications are the first cause of mortality in patients. In this study we conducted an assessement of cardivascular risk factors in patients with acromegaly.

Patients and methods

A retrospective evaluative study of 32 patients followed for acromegaly from 2002 to 2019 in the department of Endocrinology, University Hospital La Rabta.

Results

Patients were 63% male and 37% female, sex ratio was 1.7. The mean age was 47.9 ± 13.2, six (19%) female patients were older than 50 years and five (16%) male patients were older than 60. Nine patients (28%) were active smokers and 17 (54%) were obese. Diabetes was present in 14 patients (44%) and glucose intolerance in 6 (18%). Hypertension was diagnosed in 15 patients (47%). Ten (21%) patients had dyslipidemia in which 7 had hypercholesterolemia and 9 had hypertriglyceridemia. Two patients had no CV risk factors, four had only one factor, 11 patients (34%) had two factors and 15 (47%) had three or more CV risk factors.

Conclusion

Incidence of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with acromegaly is higher than general population. This is explained by the insulinoresistance caused by the excess of growth hormone. Thus to reduce cadiovacular morbidity and mortality, it is necessary to diagnose and treat the acromegaly and the associated cardiovascular risks as early as possible.