Psychosocial morbidity in acromegaly: a study from India

Abstract

To study the psychosocial profile of patients of acromegaly in a developing country setting. Seventeen patients with acromegaly underwent a cross-sectional assessment regarding their socio-demographic and clinical profile, life events, social support, coping, dysfunction, quality of life and psychiatric morbidity. Seventeen demographically matched healthy participants (free from psychological morbidity) acted as the control group. The acromegaly group had predominance of urban married males (64.7%) with mean age 36.05 +/- 17.06 years (range = 15-61), and mean duration of illness of 36.05 +/- 42.5 (range = 4-240) months. Six subjects (i.e., GHQ-positive group) scored positive (indicating presence of psychiatric morbidity) on the General Health Questionnaire-12 giving a psychiatric morbidity rate of 33.33%, with five fulfilling an ICD-10 diagnosis. Compared to the GHQ-negative group, the GHQ-positive group had more number of life events in the entire lifetime, used significantly more number of emotional coping strategies, had more dysfunction, and poorer quality of life (in domains of physical health, social relationship, and general well-being). Psychiatric morbidity occurs in a significant percentage of patients with acromegaly. Presence of psychiatric morbidity is associated with dysfunction and poorer quality of life.

The Quality of Life and Psychological, Social and Cognitive Functioning of Patients with Acromegaly

“…In contrast to previous reports, Ruchala et al emphasized that acromegalic subjects had a high level of satisfaction with life and efficacy, which are an important factor in coping with the disease; the results were linked to treatment based on somatostatin analogues [21]. At the same time, the subjects of an Indian study showed a high level of negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety and sadness [20].…”

“…In their articles, Furman and Ezzat as well as Mattoo et al underlines the importance of the duration of treatment in acromegaly, which can contribute to the development of symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as limited recall in memory, detachment, sleep disorders, problems with concentration and social isolation [10,20].…”

Coping Strategies in Patients after Treatment for Functioning or Nonfunctioning Pituitary Adenomas

“…There are, however, two previous studies by one research group that reported coping strategies in small groups of patients (Cushing's disease n ϭ 18; acromegaly n ϭ 17) during or less than 1 yr after treatment in a developing country (16,17). However, it is not clear whether patients report different coping strategies compared with controls and whether the coping strategies reported by the patients are negative or positive.…”

“…A four-point scale was used, ranging from seldom or never to very often. The statements lead to seven subscales: active coping (score ranging from 7-28), seeking distraction (score ranging from 8 -32), avoiding (score ranging from 8 -32), seeking social support (score ranging from 6 -24), passive coping (score ranging from 7-28), expressing emotions (score ranging from 3-12), and fostering reassuring thoughts (score ranging from [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

Psychological impact of type-1 diabetes mellitus on parents: an exploratory study from North India

“…General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12): GHQ-12 is a derivative of General Health Questionnaire −60, which was developed as a valid and reliable selfadministered screening measure for psychological problems in primary care and community settings [19]. GHQ-12 used in the present study is based on the Hindi translation of the 60-item General Health Questionnaire that has been standardized in India and in Indian population [20,21] and has been used in our center earlier in research with patients suffering with acromegaly and Cushing disease [22,23]. In the present study, to define a case with possible psychiatric morbidity a score ≥2 was used.…”