Joint pain, physical function, and balance self-confidence in acromegaly versus non-functioning pituitary adenoma patients

CONTEXT

Patients with acromegaly experience balance issues, despite achieving biochemical remission, that may significantly impair their quality of life.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to assess the prevalence of falls and balance self-confidence in patients with acromegaly in comparison with a control group. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of joint pain and function as predictors for their balance self-confidence.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, case-controlled.

SETTING

Tertiary care centres.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS

In this case-control study, we surveyed patients with acromegaly (PWA; n = 94) and non-functioning pituitary adenoma (PNA; n = 82) with similar age, sex, and BMI from two Canadian centres.

INTERVENTION(S)

None.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)

Data were obtained on number of falls during the past 12 months, self-confidence to maintain balance, joint pain, joint surgery, pain medication usage, and upper and lower extremity musculoskeletal disability.

RESULTS

While both PWA and PNA had a similarly high risk of falls, PWA had lower self-confidence to maintain balance (p < 0.01). PWA had higher joint pain scores and more functional impairment in upper extremity, hip, knee, and ankle joints (all p < 0.01). In both groups, age, sex, and ankle functional score were predictors of balance self-confidence. For PWA, hip functional score was also a predictor of balance self-confidence in contrast to knee and back pain scores being predictors for the PNA group.

CONCLUSIONS

We confirmed an increased prevalence of falls in both groups with diminished balance confidence in PWA. This reduced balance self-confidence seems to be related to their increased hip functional impairment in comparison to PNA.