Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Cerrahpasa Medical School, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Kocamustafapasa Street No: 53, 34098, Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey.
Department of Psychiatry, Cerrahpasa Medical School, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey.
Pituitary. 2021 Aug;24(4):589-599. doi: 10.1007/s11102-021-01136-5. Epub 2021 Mar 5.
Patients with acromegaly and Cushing's disease (CD) may experience significant problems related to the COVID-19 outbreak. We aimed to investigate the psychosocial effects of the pandemic and reveal the follow-up characteristics.
The single center, cross-sectional, web-based survey study included patients with acromegaly and CD, PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients and healthy volunteers without known any chronic disease. The semi-structured sociodemographic data form, The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) were used.
We examined 583 people (217 acromegaly, 127 CD, 102 PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients and 137 healthy controls). The frequency of abnormal state anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were similar in patients with acromegaly and CD and healthy controls, and higher in PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients than in these three groups (p < 0.001 for both). The frequency of abnormal trait anxiety was higher in patients with acromegaly and PCR-confirmed COVID-19 compared to patients with CD and healthy controls (p = 0.027, p < 0.001, respectively). There were no significant differences between the acromegaly and CD groups in terms of follow-up characteristics and perception of the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak (p > 0.05 for all). But, the treatment discontinuation rate was higher in patients with acromegaly than CD (p = 0.012).
Our findings indicate that acromegaly and CD patients are psychologically less affected than PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients and exhibit similar findings the general population. The clinicians should consider the psychosocial effects, as well as focus on the regular follow-up and medical treatments of these patients during the outbreak.
患有肢端肥大症和库欣病（CD）的患者可能会因 COVID-19 爆发而面临严重的问题。本研究旨在调查大流行带来的心理社会影响，并揭示其随访特征。
这项单中心、横断面、基于网络的调查研究纳入了肢端肥大症和 CD 患者、PCR 确诊的 COVID-19 患者以及无已知慢性疾病的健康志愿者。采用半结构式社会人口统计学数据表单、状态特质焦虑量表（STAI）和修订后的事件影响量表（IES-R）进行评估。
我们共调查了 583 人（217 例肢端肥大症、127 例 CD、102 例 PCR 确诊的 COVID-19 患者和 137 名健康对照）。肢端肥大症和 CD 患者以及健康对照者中异常状态焦虑和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的发生率相似，高于 PCR 确诊的 COVID-19 患者（两者均为 p<0.001）。与 CD 患者和健康对照者相比，肢端肥大症和 PCR 确诊的 COVID-19 患者的特质焦虑异常发生率更高（分别为 p=0.027、p<0.001）。肢端肥大症和 CD 两组患者在随访特征和对 COVID-19 大流行严重程度的感知方面无显著差异（p>0.05）。然而，肢端肥大症患者的治疗中断率高于 CD 患者（p=0.012）。
我们的研究结果表明，与 PCR 确诊的 COVID-19 患者相比，肢端肥大症和 CD 患者受到的心理影响较小，与普通人群的发现相似。在大流行期间，临床医生应考虑这些患者的心理社会影响，并注重对这些患者的常规随访和医疗治疗。
