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61st Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC) as part of the Neurowoche 2010
Joint Meeting with the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery on the 20 September 2010

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

21 - 25 September 2010, Mannheim

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Persistent arterial hypertension in female patients and joint complaints in male patients determine quality of life in acromegaly patients after treatment

Meeting Abstract

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  • Monika Milian - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universität Tuebingen, Germany
  • Juergen Honegger - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universität Tuebingen, Germany
  • Tsambika Psaras - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universität Tuebingen, Germany

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 61. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC) im Rahmen der Neurowoche 2010. Mannheim, 21.-25.09.2010. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2010. DocP1761

doi: 10.3205/10dgnc232, urn:nbn:de:0183-10dgnc2326

Published: September 16, 2010

© 2010 Milian et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Objective: Acromegaly is associated with deleterious comorbidities that can, depending on their severity, remain irreversible even after successful treatment and lead to a persistently impaired Quality of Life (QoL). Whether men and women suffer to the same degree from these late effects of their disease has not been well investigated. The aim of the study was to assess the incidence and degree of persistent comorbidities after treatment and to investigate their impact on QoL with special attention to gender differences

Methods: We developed an Acromegaly Comorbidities & Complaints Questionnaire (ACCQ) with good psychometric properties to assess the incidence and degree of comorbidities and complaints. ACCQ and the Acromegaly Quality of Life Questionnaire (AcroQoL) were handed out to 55 treated acromegalic patients.

Results: Joint-related complaints (e.g. acral enlargement, arthralgias, numbness of fingers) were the most frequent findings in both men and women. 10% of the participants even reported that they suffered to a severe degree from them. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that in men persistent joint-complaints were decisively responsible for impaired QoL after treatment. In women, it was the persistence of hypertension. There were no significant gender differences in the total scores of the ACCQ and AcroQoL.

Conclusions: Persistent joint complaints have adverse effects on QoL after treatment of acromegaly in men, possibly because they lead to impairment of manual motor skills and a handicap in their working life. Women seem to perceive late effects of hypertension as a health threat.