TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal Assessment of Illnesses, Stress Dosing, and Illness Sequelae in Patients with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
AU - El-Maouche, Diala
AU - Hargreaves, Courtney J.
AU - Sinaii, Ninet
AU - Mallappa, Ashwini
AU - Veeraraghavan, Padmasree
AU - Merke, Deborah P.
N1 - Funding Information:
Disclosure Summary: D.P.M. received unrelated research funds from Diurnal Limited and Millendo Therapeutics through the National Institutes of Health Cooperative Research and Development Agreement and is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. The remaining authors have nothing to disclose.
Funding Information:
Financial Support: This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Endocrine Society.
PY - 2018/6/1
Y1 - 2018/6/1
N2 - Context Patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) are at risk for life-threatening adrenal crises. Management of illness episodes aims to prevent adrenal crises. Objective We evaluated rates of illnesses and associated factors in patients with CAH followed prospectively and receiving repeated glucocorticoid stress dosing education. Methods Longitudinal analysis of 156 patients with CAH followed at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center over 23 years was performed. The rates of illnesses and stress-dose days, emergency room (ER) visits, hospitalizations, and adrenal crises were analyzed in relation to phenotype, age, sex, treatment, and hormonal evaluations. Results A total of 2298 visits were evaluated. Patients were followed for 9.3 ± 6.0 years. During childhood, there were more illness episodes and stress dosing than adulthood (P < 0.001); however, more ER visits and hospitalizations occurred during adulthood (P ≤ 0.03). The most robust predictors of stress dosing were young age, low hydrocortisone and high fludrocortisone dose during childhood, and female sex during adulthood. Gastrointestinal and upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) were the two most common precipitating events for adrenal crises and hospitalizations across all ages. Adrenal crisis with probable hypoglycemia occurred in 11 pediatric patients (ages 1.1 to 11.3 years). Undetectable epinephrine was associated with ER visits during childhood (P = 0.03) and illness episodes during adulthood (P = 0.03). Conclusions Repeated stress-related glucocorticoid dosing teaching is essential, but revised age-appropriate guidelines for the management of infectious illnesses are needed for patients with adrenal insufficiency that aim to reduce adrenal crises and prevent hypoglycemia, particularly in children.
AB - Context Patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) are at risk for life-threatening adrenal crises. Management of illness episodes aims to prevent adrenal crises. Objective We evaluated rates of illnesses and associated factors in patients with CAH followed prospectively and receiving repeated glucocorticoid stress dosing education. Methods Longitudinal analysis of 156 patients with CAH followed at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center over 23 years was performed. The rates of illnesses and stress-dose days, emergency room (ER) visits, hospitalizations, and adrenal crises were analyzed in relation to phenotype, age, sex, treatment, and hormonal evaluations. Results A total of 2298 visits were evaluated. Patients were followed for 9.3 ± 6.0 years. During childhood, there were more illness episodes and stress dosing than adulthood (P < 0.001); however, more ER visits and hospitalizations occurred during adulthood (P ≤ 0.03). The most robust predictors of stress dosing were young age, low hydrocortisone and high fludrocortisone dose during childhood, and female sex during adulthood. Gastrointestinal and upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) were the two most common precipitating events for adrenal crises and hospitalizations across all ages. Adrenal crisis with probable hypoglycemia occurred in 11 pediatric patients (ages 1.1 to 11.3 years). Undetectable epinephrine was associated with ER visits during childhood (P = 0.03) and illness episodes during adulthood (P = 0.03). Conclusions Repeated stress-related glucocorticoid dosing teaching is essential, but revised age-appropriate guidelines for the management of infectious illnesses are needed for patients with adrenal insufficiency that aim to reduce adrenal crises and prevent hypoglycemia, particularly in children.
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U2 - 10.1210/jc.2018-00208
DO - 10.1210/jc.2018-00208
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85048658129
VL - 103
SP - 2336
EP - 2345
JO - Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
JF - Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
SN - 0021-972X
IS - 6
ER -