Is acromegaly under-diagnosed?
Historically, acromegaly has been under-recognised until its later stages when clinical characteristics are more apparent but treatment is more difficult. Reid et al. examined data from 324 patients presenting with acromegaly from 1981 to 2006 and found that signs, symptoms and associated comorbidities, tumour size and preoperative GH levels did not change significantly in the 26 years since the patients were diagnosed, indicating that their acromegaly was already advanced at diagnosis. The authors conclude that clinical recognition of acromegaly has not improved much in the last 25 years and that increased awareness of acromegaly amongst practitioners is required.
