The silent surden: Alexithymia and quality of life in acromegaly patients.

BACKGROUND

We aim to investigate the potential link between the physical changes associated with acromegaly and the development of alexithymia, as well as its related psychopathological outcomes and impact on quality of life.

METHODS

The study included 137 patient with acromegaly and 125 control group patients. Body Image Scale (BIS), Toronto Alexithymia Score-20 (TAS-20), Hospital Anxiety and Depression inventory (HAD), Short Form-36 (SF-36) and Acromegaly Quality of Life Scale (AcroQol) were used to the patients.

RESULTS

In the acromegaly group, TAS-20 total scores, as well as the Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF) and Difficulty Describing Feelings (DDF) subscale scores, were higher compared to the control group (51 vs. 44, p < 0.01; 16 vs. 12, p < 0.01; and 12 vs. 11, p < 0.01, respectively). In contrast, no notable difference was observed in the Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) scores between the groups. The prevalence of alexithymia was markedly higher in individuals with acromegaly (16.7%) than in the control group (3.2%, p < 0.001). A positive correlation was found between alexithymia and both depression and anxiety scores (r = 0.469, p < 0.001; r = 0.377, p < 0.01, respectively). In contrast, alexithymia was negatively correlated with SF-36, AcroQoL and BIS (r = − 0.426, p < 0.01; r = − 0.465, p < 0.01; r = − 0.364, p < 0.01, respectively). Patients with acromegaly reported poorer body image and a higher rate of impaired body perception compared to control group (43.7% vs. 19.2%, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The present study demonstrates that alexithymia is more prevalent in patients with acromegaly compared to controls and often persists even after remission.