Psychosocial effects and clinic reflections of the COVID-19 outbreak in patients with acromegaly and Cushing's disease.
Pituitary
; 24(4): 589-599, 2021 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33665771
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
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.METHODS:
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.RESULTS:
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).CONCLUSIONS:
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.Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Anxiety
/
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
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Acromegaly
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Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Year:
2021
Type:
Article