Objective: To undertake a multicentre epidemiological study reflecting acromegaly in Spain. Design: Voluntary reporting of data on patients with acromegaly to an online database, by the managing physician. Methods: Data on demographics, diagnosis, estimated date of initial symptoms and diagnosis, pituitary imaging, visual fields, GH and IGF-I concentrations (requested locally), medical, radiotherapy and neurosurgical treatments, morbidity and mortality were collected. Results: Data were included for 1219 patients (60.8% women) with a mean age at diagnosis of 45 years (S.D. 14 years). Reporting was maximal in 1997 (2.1 cases per million inhabitants (c.p.m.) per year); prevalence was globally 36 c.p.m., but varied between 15.7 and 75.8 c.p.m. in different regions. Of 1196 pituitary tumours, most were macroadenomas (73%); 81% of these patients underwent surgery, 45% received radiotherapy and 65% were given medical treatment (somatostatin analogues in 68.3% and dopamine agonists in 31.4%). Cures (GH values (basal or after an oral glucose tolerance test) , 2 ng/ml, normal IGF-I, or both) were observed in 40.3% after surgery and 28.2% after radiotherapy. Hypertension (39.1%), diabetes mellitus (37.6%), hypopituitarism (25.7%), goitre (22.4%), carpal tunnel syndrome (18.7%) and sleep apnoea (13.2%) were reported as most frequent morbidities; 6.8% of the patients had cancer (breast in 3.1% of the women and colon in 1.2% of the cohort). Fifty-six patients died at a mean age of 60 years (S.D. 14 years), most commonly of a cardiovascular cause (39.4%); mortality was greater in patients given radiotherapy (hazard ratio 2.29; 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 5.08; P ¼ 0.026), and in those in whom GH and IGF-I concentrations were never normal (P , 0.001). Conclusions: This acromegaly registry offers a realistic overview of the epidemiological characteristics, treatment outcome and morbidity of acromegaly in Spain. As active disease and treatment with radiotherapy are associated with an increase in mortality, efforts to control the disease early are desirable.

Background: In about 16-85% of subjects with goiter, upper airway obstruction (UAO) is observed. This percentage is higher in patients affected by goiter with endothoracic enlargement. UAO is an indication for surgery. Visual analysis of flow-volume loops (FVL) are the best indicators for UAO, although various studies using clinical and radiological parameters have observed no correlation. Objective: To evaluate the presence of UAO in patients with endothoracic goiter enlargement and the relationship between the FVL with the observed symptoms and the measurements obtained by computed tomography (CT). Subjects: Subjects with endothoracic goiter enlargement participated in the study. Design: i) Symptom questionnaire (dysphagia, dyspnea, cough, oppression, dysphonia, and worsened symptoms when prone); ii) analysis: TSH and free thyroxine; iii) cervical ultrasound; iv) cervicalthoracic CT (measurements of area and diameter in the area of maximum stenosis and at 2 cm from the carina); v) chest radiography and vi) forced spirometry: visual analysis of FVL morphology and the maximum forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1 ), forced expiratory flow at 50% vital capacity/forced inspiratory flow at 50% vital capacity and FEV 1 /peak expiratory flow parameters. Results: Fifty subjects participated in the study: 11 men/39 women, median age 73.8 years (43.76-88.43). UAO was diagnosed in 13 cases (26%, confidence interval: 14.6-40.3%) and 27 subjects (54%) presented symptoms suggesting goiter compression. No clinical or radiological variables showed the presence of UAO. Conclusions: The frequency of UAO in subjects affected by goiter with endothoracic enlargement was lower than that described for goiter patients, and there were no clinical or radiological indicators to establish its presence.

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Skeletal muscle of patients with both adult-onset and childhood-onset adult GH deficiency shows a neuromuscular dysfunction, indicated by the muscle biopsy and the neurophysiological study, which in the subgroup of treated patients responds positively to rhGH therapy. The results obtained suggest that the STAT-5 signal transduction pathway in muscle is abnormal in adult GH deficiency.