Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep;77(3):510-518.
doi: 10.1007/s12020-022-03106-8. Epub 2022 Jul 2.

Psychological complications in patients with acromegaly: relationships with sex, arthropathy, and quality of life

Biagio Cangiano #  1   2 , Emanuele Giusti #  3   4 , Caterina Premoli  2 , Davide Soranna  5 , Giovanni Vitale  1   2 , Silvia Grottoli  6 , Valeria Cambria  6 , Giovanna Mantovani  7   8 , Roberta Mungari  7   8 , Pietro Maffei  9 , Francesca Dassie  9 , Antonella Giampietro  10 , Sabrina Chiloiro  10 , Maria Laura Tanda  11 , Silvia Ippolito  11 , Salvatore Cannavò  12   13 , Marta Ragonese  12 , Antonella Zambon  14 , Luca Persani  1   2 , Letizia Maria Fatti #  1 , Massimo Scacchi #  15   16 ; “PRO-ACRO” study group on Motor Disability in Acromegaly, of the Italian Society of Endocrinology (SIE)
Collaborators, Affiliations

Psychological complications in patients with acromegaly: relationships with sex, arthropathy, and quality of life

Biagio Cangiano et al. Endocrine. 2022 Sep.

Abstract

Purpose: Current treatment of acromegaly restores a normal life expectancy in most cases. So, the study of persistent complications affecting patients' quality of life (QoL) is of paramount importance, especially motor disability and depression. In a large cohort of acromegalic patients we aimed at establishing the prevalence of depression, to look for clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with it, and to investigate the respective roles (and interactions) of depression and arthropathy in influencing QoL.

Methods: One hundred and seventy-one acromegalic patients (95 women and 76 men, aged 20-85 years) among those recruited in a cross-sectional Italian multicentric study were investigated. Each patient filled in three validated questionnaires: AcroQoL, WOMAC (measuring articular pain, stiffness and functionality), and AIMS (evaluating articular symptoms and depression).

Results: A very high (up to 28%) depression rate was detected in acromegalic subjects. Two patients showing pathological AIMS depression scores, committed suicide during the three years observational period. In our population poor psychological status was significantly associated with female sex. Furthermore, a significant strong correlation was found between AIMS depression score and WOMAC score. Both depression and arthropathy-related motor disability turned out to independently contribute with similar strength to the impairment of QoL.

Conclusions: We report a high prevalence of depression in acromegaly, which is associated with female sex and arthropathy. Both depression and arthropathy strongly and independently contribute to the impaired QoL of patients. Our study shows that assessment and monitoring of psychological status is mandatory in acromegaly, also suggesting an inexpensive tool for this assessment.

Keywords: Acromegaly; Anxiety; Articular function; Depression; QoL; Radiotherapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevalence of depression in the cohort of acromegalic patients compared to rheumatologic patients without major disability. RA Rheumatoid Arthritis, OA Osteoarthritis, LBP Low back pain. Cutoffs for AIMS depression scale to identify probable depression (>4/10) were used (see Questionnaires section). The control groups were taken from the rheumatologic patients without major disability from Wichita Arthritis Center among year 1981 and 1991 (see Statistical Analysis section)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Correlation between depression and arthropathy on quality of life in acromegalic patients
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. A. Colao, L.F.S. Grasso, A. Giustina, et al. Acromegaly. Nat. Rev. Dis. Prim. 5 (2019) - PubMed
    1. Melmed S. Acromegaly pathogenesis and treatment. J. Clin. Invest. 2009;119:3189–3202. doi: 10.1172/JCI39375. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ritvonen E, Löyttyniemi E, Jaatinen P, et al. Mortality in acromegaly: a 20-year follow-up study. Endocr. Relat. Cancer. 2016;23:469–480. doi: 10.1530/ERC-16-0106. - DOI - PubMed
    1. L.M. Fatti, B. Cangiano, G.Vitale et al. Arthropathy in acromegaly: a questionnaire-based estimation of motor disability and its relation with quality of life and work productivity. Pituitary. 10.1007/s11102-019-00966-8 (2019) - PubMed
    1. M. Kołtowska-Häggsträm, C. Menzel, C. Strasburger et al. Predictors of Quality of Life in 165 Patients With Acromegaly: Results From a Single-Center Study. Endocr. Pract. 23, 79–88 10.4158/ep161373.or (2016) - PubMed