Quality of life of patients with acromegaly: comparison of different therapeutic modalities

ABSTRACT

Background

Acromegaly is a rare disease that significantly affects patients’ quality of life (QoL) – especially appearance, pain, depression, energy and vitality. The aim is to assess and compare the acromegaly patients’ QoL related to the type of pharmacotherapy using specific and generic QoL measuring instruments.

Research design and methods

A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study among 163 hospitalized acromegaly patients was conducted. QoL was measured by Acromegaly Quality of Life Questionnaire (AcroQol), Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and EQ-5D-3 L.

Results

Women had lower AcroQol values than men 50 vs. 66 (p < 0.05). Lower values for octreotide than octreotide + pegvisomant were found with all questionnaires: 57 vs. 67 AcroQol (p = 0.0405), 0.699 vs. 0.7586 EQ-5D (p = 0.0595) and 57.94 vs. 66.06 SF-36 scores (p > 0.093) . A significant correlation between AcroQoL, SF-36 and EQ-5D-3 L scores (rs> 0, р < 0.00001) was revealed. AcroQol, EQ-5D and SF-36 are reliable questionnaires applicable for Bulgarian population with acromegaly.

Conclusion

This pilot study confirmed that combination therapy which includes biological therapy is related to higher physical appearance AcroQol scores than nonbiological monotherapy – a conclusion which should be further confirmed.

KEYWORDS:

• Acromegaly
• AcroQol
• Bulgaria
• EQ-5D
• quality of life
• SF-36

Author contributions

Conceptualization, M.K., G.P. and S.V.; methodology, A.E. and S.V.; software, M.K. Y.R.; validation, A.E., G.P. and S.V.; formal analysis, Y.R. and M.K.; investigation, S.V. and A.E.; resources, A.E. and S.V.; data curation, M.K., S.V. and Y.R.; writing—original draft preparation, M.K. and Y.R.; writing—review and editing, S.V., A.E., G.P.; visualization, Y.R. and M.K.; supervision, G.P. and A.E.; project administration, G.P., S.V. and M.K.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon valuable request.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by This work was supported by grant from the Medical University Sofia, Medical Science Council, Contract №137/2021 for Funding of Scientific Researches, Program ‘Young researcher 2021.’ Affiliation of all listed authors is Medical University of Sofia.