Short- and long-term changes of quality of life in patients with acromegaly: results from a prospective study

Quality of life (QoL) may be affected in acromegalic patients, although the role of disease activity is still unsettled. The aim of the study was to assess the QoL of acromegalic patients with a specific questionnaire (ACROQOL). ACROQOL was evaluated in a prospective study (at baseline, at 6 and 24 months) in 23 active untreated acromegalic patients. Control of acromegaly was defined by normal age-matched serum IGF-I concentrations. Patient groups were defined as controlled or uncontrolled at 6 months and at 24 months: controlled or uncontrolled during the entire study period (ACRO(CC) or ACRO(NC), respectively) or uncontrolled at 6 months and controlled thereafter (ACRO(C)). At 6 months, ACROQOL scores improved globally (from 54.3+/-21 to 65.1+/-19, p=0.04) as did subdomains and were inversely related to IGF-I variation (r=-0.50, p=0.052). At 24 months, ACROQOL improved globally (from 54.3+/-21 to 65.7+/-18.0, p=0.04) and this was also seen in the appearance subdomains; however, no correlation was revealed between variation of serum IGF-I concentrations and changes in ACROQOL total score (r=0.008, p=0.87). ACROQOL scores did not significantly change in ACRO(NC) (p=0.310) and in ACRO(C) (p=0.583), whereas it improved globally (from 42.1+/-22.1 to 58.8+/-16.04, p=0.021) and in psychological subdomains in ACRO(CC); however, it reflected the improvement occurred within the first 6 months of disease control. In conclusion, successful treatment, which normalizes disease activity, improves QoL in acromegaly in the short term. However, the lack of correlation between the ACROQOL score in the long term might suggest that factors other than serum IGF-I participate in the well-being of acromegalic patients; however, due to the small sample size, our results need to be confirmed in larger studies.