Cardiometabolic Disease Burden and Steroid Excretion in Benign Adrenal Tumors A Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study

Alessandro Prete, Anuradhaa Subramanian, Irina Bancos, Vasileios Chortis, Stylianos Tsagarakis, Katharina Lang, Magdalena Macech, Danae A. Delivanis, Ivana D. Pupovac, Giuseppe Reimondo, Ljiljana V. Marina, Timo Deutschbein, Maria Balomenaki, Michael W. O’Reilly, Lorna C. Gilligan, Carl Jenkinson, Tomasz Bednarczuk, Catherine D. Zhang, Tina Dusek, Aristidis DiamantopoulosMiriam Asia, Agnieszka Kondracka, Dingfeng Li, Jimmy R. Masjkur, Marcus Quinkler, Grethe Ueland, M. Conall Dennedy, Felix Beuschlein, Antoine Tabarin, Martin Fassnacht, Miomira Ivovic, Massimo Terzolo, Darko Kastelan, William F. Young, Konstantinos N. Manolopoulos, Urszula Ambroziak, Dimitra A. Vassiliadi, Angela E. Taylor, Alice J. Sitch, Krishnarajah Nirantharakumar, Wiebke Arlt*, Stephan Glöckner, Richard O. Sinnott, Anthony Stell, Maria Candida B.V. Fragoso, Bojana Simunov, Sarah Cazenave, Magalie Haissaguerre, Jérôme Bertherat, Harm R. Haak, ENSAT EURINE-ACT Investigators

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background: Benign adrenal tumors are commonly discovered on cross-sectional imaging. Mild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS) is regularly diagnosed, but its effect on cardiometabolic disease in affected persons is ill defined. Objective: To determine cardiometabolic disease burden and steroid excretion in persons with benign adrenal tumors with and without MACS. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: 14 endocrine secondary and tertiary care centers (recruitment from 2011 to 2016). Participants: 1305 prospectively recruited persons with benign adrenal tumors. Measurements: Cortisol excess was defined by clinical assessment and the 1-mg overnight dexamethasone-suppression test (serum cortisol: <50 nmol/L, nonfunctioning adrenal tumor [NFAT]; 50 to 138 nmol/L, possible MACS [MACS-1]; >138 nmol/L and absence of typical clinical Cushing syndrome [CS] features, definitive MACS [MACS-2]). Net steroid production was assessed by multisteroid profiling of 24-hour urine by tandem mass spectrometry. Results: Of the 1305 participants, 49.7% had NFAT (n = 649; 64.1% women), 34.6% had MACS-1 (n = 451; 67.2% women), 10.7% had MACS-2 (n = 140; 73.6% women), and 5.0% had CS (n = 65; 86.2% women). Prevalence and severity of hypertension were higher in MACS-2 and CS than NFAT (adjusted prevalence ratios [aPRs] for hypertension: MACS-2, 1.15 [95% CI, 1.04 to 1.27], and CS, 1.37 [CI, 1.16 to 1.62]; aPRs for use of =3 antihypertensives: MACS-2, 1.31 [CI, 1.02 to 1.68], and CS, 2.22 [CI, 1.62 to 3.05]). Type 2 diabetes was more prevalent in CS than NFAT (aPR, 1.62 [CI, 1.08 to 2.42]) and more likely to require insulin therapy for MACS-2 (aPR, 1.89 [CI, 1.01 to 3.52]) and CS (aPR, 3.06 [CI, 1.60 to 5.85]). Urinary multisteroid profiling revealed an increase in glucocorticoid excretion from NFAT over MACS-1 and MACS-2 to CS, whereas androgen excretion decreased. Limitations: Cross-sectional design; possible selection bias. Conclusion: A cardiometabolic risk condition, MACS predominantly affects women and warrants regular assessment for hypertension and type 2 diabetes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)325-334
Number of pages10
JournalAnnals of Internal Medicine
Volume175
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2022

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