title: More concerns and stronger beliefs about the necessity of medication in patients with acromegaly are associated with negative illness perceptions and impairment in quality of life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with acromegaly can be treated with surgery, radiotherapy and/or medical treatment. In general, patients' beliefs about medication are associated with illness perceptions, a contributory factor of Quality of Life (QoL). At present, there are no quantitative studies on medication beliefs in patients with acromegaly. Here, we aimed to examine possible associations between medication beliefs, illness perceptions, and QoL. Furthermore we aimed to explore whether illness perceptions of patients with remission of acromegaly receiving medical treatment differ from patients without medical treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional evaluation of 73 patients with remission of acromegaly (n = 28 patients with medication, n = 45 without medication). The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ), Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R), EuroQoL-5D, and AcroQoL were used for the assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Stronger beliefs about the necessity of medical treatment and stronger concerns about the adverse effects were associated with attributing more symptoms to acromegaly, perceiving more negative consequences, and having a stronger belief in a cyclical timeline (BMQ, all P < 0.05). Stronger beliefs about the necessity of medical treatment were associated with a worse disease-specific QoL (BMQ, P < 0.01). Patients with medical treatment perceived a more chronic timeline of their disease, compared to patients without medical treatment (IPQ-R, P = 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Negative medication beliefs were related to more negative illness perceptions and worse disease-specific QoL. Patients receiving medical treatment for acromegaly tend to perceive a more chronic timeline of their disease, compared to patients with remission without medical treatment. These psychological factors need to be taken into account when treating patients and developing a psychosocial education program aiming to improve QoL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Center for Endocrine Tumors Leiden (CETL), Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Cornelie D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Andela
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Center for Endocrine Tumors Leiden (CETL), Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nienke R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Biermasz
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Adrian A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kaptein
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Center for Endocrine Tumors Leiden (CETL), Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Alberto M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Center for Endocrine Tumors Leiden (CETL), Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands; Psychological Science, University of California, Merced, CA, United States. Electronic address: jtiemensma@ucmerced.edu.
authors.forename: Jitske
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tiemensma
mesh_terms: D000172:Acromegaly / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D013004:Somatostatin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D013004:Somatostatin
keywords: Acromegaly; Growth hormone; Illness perceptions; Medication beliefs; Quality of life; Somatostatin analogs