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Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 2022; 130(07): 434-438
DOI: 10.1055/a-1719-5381
Article

Diurnal Salivary Cortisol Profiles in Patients with Cushing’s Syndrome

Leah T. Braun
1   Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, LMU Klinikum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
,
Frederick Vogel
1   Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, LMU Klinikum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
,
Stephanie Zopp
1   Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, LMU Klinikum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
,
German Rubinstein
1   Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, LMU Klinikum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
,
Katharina Schilbach
1   Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, LMU Klinikum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
,
Heike Künzel
1   Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, LMU Klinikum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
,
Felix Beuschlein
1   Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, LMU Klinikum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
2   Klinik für Endokrinologie, Diabetologie und Klinische Ernährung, Universitätsspital Zürich, Switzerland
,
Martin Reincke
1   Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, LMU Klinikum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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Abstract

Background Quantification of salivary cortisol is one of the highly sensitive and specific screening parameters for Cushing’s syndrome (CS). However, only late-night salivary cortisol is part of the standard screening procedure. In this study, we aimed to analyze salivary cortisol day profiles in patients with different types of CS to test whether specific patterns might be relevant for diagnosis and subtyping.

Material and Methods Among 428 patients including those with confirmed Cushing’s syndrome (N=111, of those 75 with Cushing’s disease, 27 patients with adrenal CS and nine patients with ectopic CS), autonomous cortisol secretion (N=39) or exclusion of CS (control group, N=278) salivary cortisol was measured five times a day.

Results At each of the five time points, salivary cortisol was significantly higher in patients with CS compared to the control group (p≤0.001). Using the entire profile instead of one single salivary cortisol at 11 p.m. improved diagnostic accuracy (85 vs. 91%) slightly. Patients with ACTH-dependent CS had higher salivary cortisol levels than patients with adrenal CS. Also, morning cortisol was significantly higher in patients with ectopic CS than in patients with Cushing’s disease (p=0.04). Nevertheless, there was a strong overlap between diurnal profiles, and the diagnostic yield for subtyping was low.

Discussion The study results show that using diurnal salivary cortisol profiles for CS diagnosis results in a limited increase in diagnostic accuracy. With significant differences between Cushing subtypes, cortisol profiles are not useful in everyday clinical practice for subtyping of CS.

Key words

hypercortisolism - Cushing’s disease - circadian rhythm - adrenocorticotropin - pituitary - adrenal


Publication History

Received: 05 October 2021
Received: 25 November 2021

Accepted: 07 December 2021

Article published online:
17 January 2022

© 2022. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

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