ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE IN ACROMEGALY: A SINGLE CENTER CROSS SECTIONAL ANALYSIS AND PRELIMINARY PROSPECTIVE LONG-TERM STUDY
Giorgia Abete Fornara 1
Alessandra Mangone 2,3
Veronica Lotito 2,3
Giulia Del Sindaco 2
Arianna Cremaschi 2
Giulia Carosi 2
Roberta Mungari 2
Emanuele Ferrante 2
Giulio Andrea Bertani 1
Giorgio Fiore 1
Marco Locatelli 1,4
Elisa Sala 2
Giovanna Mantovani 2,3
1. Unit of Neurosurgery, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Milan, Italy, Milan, Italy
2. Unit of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS Ca 'Granda Foundation Maggiore Policlinico Hospital, Milan, Italy
3. Department of Medical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Italy, Milan, Italy
4. Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Italy, Milano, Italy
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Abstract
Background: Psychological and cognitive disorders have been reported in acromegaly, yet with limited and heterogeneous data, especially concerning long-term cognitive functioning Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study enrolling 44 acromegalic patients and 40 healthy controls. We systematically assessed anxiety and depressive symptoms through the State-trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory, respectively. We investigated their cognitive functioning thorough a wide battery of 16 tests addressing verbal and visuo-spatial memory, attention, verbal fluencies, executive functions and constructional praxis. Moreover, we performed a prospective evaluation in a 10-year time-span of a small subgroup of patients. Results: Clinically significant depressive and anxiety symptoms were registered in 23% and 35% of patients respectively, mostly in the group with active disease at evaluation. Concerning cognition, patients scored worse than controls in all cognitive domains explored, with a significant difference registered in almost all tests administered. Moreover, hypopituitarism and IGF-1 levels seem to be related to a worse cognitive performance, especially in the group of tests exploring the memory domain. In the prospective group, with the limitation of a really small sample size, we observed a global improvement over time in all domains evaluated. Conclusions: Acromegaly is characterized by higher levels of psychological distress and poorer neurocognitive functioning, with a possible association with activity of disease.3
Summary
Keywords
Acromegaly, Cognitive Function, Hypopituitarism, Neuropsychology, Pituitary
Received
31 October 2025
Accepted
11 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Abete Fornara, Mangone, Lotito, Del Sindaco, Cremaschi, Carosi, Mungari, Ferrante, Bertani, Fiore, Locatelli, Sala and Mantovani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Elisa Sala
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