Executive functioning and quality of life in acromegaly

Emilia Solomon,1,2 Dumitru Brănișteanu,1,3 Andrei Dumbravă,4 Radu Gheorghe Solomon,5 Lorànt Kiss,5 Mihai Glod,1 Cristina Preda1,3 1Faculty of Medicine, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iaşi, Romania; 2Department of Endocrinology, CF University Hospital, Iaşi, Romania; 3Department of Endocrinology, “Sf. Spiridon” Hospital, Iaşi, Romania; 4Faculty of Psychology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iaşi, Romania; 5ISUD, Faculty of Medicine, University Lucian Blaga, Sibiu, Romania Introduction: Active acromegaly is a rare chronic endocrine disorder caused by excessive growth hormone (GH). Clinical studies suggest that cognitive performance is impaired in acromegaly – particularly executive function as well as short- and long-term memory. This study compared the quality of life (QoL) and executive functioning in acromegaly patients vs healthy controls.Materials and methods: This was an observational case–control study on 38 subjects divided into 19 acromegaly patients and 19 matched controls. The groups were evaluated for QoL, attention, and executive function. All subjects completed Acromegaly Quality of Life Questionnaire (AcroQoL), Trail Making Test (parts A and B), Stroop, and phonemic fluency tests.Results: Acromegaly patients had an AcroQoL global score that was significantly lower than controls. There were significant differences between the acromegaly group and the control group in terms of the physical effects (P=0.001) and appearance (P<0.001) but not for personal relationships (P=0.421). Acromegaly patients performed worse in the trail making test part B. They provided significantly fewer words than healthy subjects in phonemic fluency testing. Although patients performed generally worse than controls, no significant differences were noted in the trail making test part A, Stroop test, and the constrained phonemic fluency.Conclusion: Acromegaly patients display worse executive functioning than healthy controls and have a decreased QoL. Keywords: acromegaly, cognition, growth hormone, executive functio