USEFULNESS OF AN AD HOC QUESTIONNAIRE (ACRO-CQ) FOR THE SYSTEMATIC ASSESSMENT OF ACROMEGALY COMORBIDITIES AT DIAGNOSIS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT AT FOLLOW-UP

Purpose To determine the validity of a self-administered questionnaire (Acro-CQ) developed to systematically assess the presence, type and time of onset of acromegaly comorbidities. Methods This is a cross-sectional study; 105 acromegaly patients and 147 controls with other types of pituitary adenoma, referred to a specialized Italian Center, autonomously compiled Acro-CQ in an outpatient clinical setting. To test its reliability in a different setting, Acro-CQ was administered via mail to 78 patients with acromegaly and 100 with other pituitary adenomas, referred to a specialized US Center. Data obtained from questionnaires in both set- tings were compared with medical records (gold standard). Results Demographics of patients and controls from both countries were similar. In both settings, >95 % of the questionnaires were completely filled; only one item was missed in the others. Concordance with medical record was excellent (k > 0.85) for most of the items, independently from the way of administration, patient age, gender and nationality, pituitary adenoma type and disease activity. Conclusions Acro-CQ is an inexpensive, highly accepted from patients and reliable tool recommended to expedite systematic collection of relevant clinical data in acromeg- aly at diagnosis, to be replicated at follow-ups. This tool may guide a targeted, cost-effective management of com- plications. Moreover, it could be applied to retrieve data for survey studies in both acromegaly and other pituitary adenomas, as information is easily and rapidly accessible for statistical analysis.