Long-term real-life outcomes in a georrefered cohort of acromegalic patients in Brazil

Purpose Epidemiological data on acromegaly therapeutic outcomes in real-life conditions are scarce in Brazil. Information on the geographical accessibility to the dispensation of medicines and its impact on biochemical control is also poorly known. We aimed to describe the clinical outcomes of long-term therapy in patients with acromegaly at a referral medical centre in Brazil and to perform a spatial analysis of patients according to the distance from home to the drug-dispensing pharmacies aiming to evaluate its impact on biochemical control. Methods Global retrospective data analysis of 111 patients followed at the University Hospital of Brasília from January 1980 to March 2015 was performed, as well as a separate review of 17 new cases operated on from April 2015 to June 2019 according to surgery results. Spatial analysis of patients under pharmacological treatment applying Geographic Information System (GIS) software (ArcGIS, ESRI, Redlands, CA) was performed. Results Considering surgery alone, the cure rate was 23% from 1980 to 2015 and 29.4% from 2015 to 2019. In the long-term follow-up of the 111 patients from 1980 to 2015, 25.2% ( n = 29) were cured, 40.6% ( n = 44) presented controlled disease and 34.2% ( n = 38) were biochemically uncontrolled after a period of follow-up of 8.9 ± 6.4 years. Biochemical control obtained in patients on pharmacological treatment ( n = 76) was 58% ( n = 44) after 5.8 ± 3.8 years. The distance from home to the drug-dispensing pharmacy did not influence biochemical control ( p = 0.7616). Conclusions Most patients presented with disease under control. No evidence on the effect of the distance between home and drug-dispensing pharmacies on biochemical control was obtained.