Moderate dietary salt restriction improves blood pressure and mental well-being in patients with primary aldosteronism: The salt CONNtrol trial.

BACKGROUND: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is a frequent cause of hypertension. Aldosterone excess together with high dietary salt intake aggravates cardiovascular damage, despite guideline-recommended mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) treatment. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the antihypertensive impact of a moderate dietary salt restriction and associated physiological changes, including mental well-being. METHODS: A total of 41 patients with PA on a stable antihypertensive regimen-including MRA-followed a dietary salt restriction for 12 weeks with structured nutritional training and consolidation by a mobile health app. Salt intake and adherence were monitored every 4 weeks using 24-h urinary sodium excretion and nutrition protocols. Body composition was assessed by bioimpedance analysis and mental well-being by validated questionnaires. RESULTS: Dietary salt intake significantly decreased from 9.1 to 5.2 g/d at the end of the study. In parallel, systolic (130 vs. 121 mm Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (BP) (84 vs. 81 mm Hg) improved significantly. Patients' aptitude of estimating dietary salt content was refined significantly (underestimation by 2.4 vs. 1.4 g/d). Salt restriction entailed a significant weight loss of 1.4 kg, improvement in pulse pressure (46 vs. 40 mm Hg) and normalization of depressive symptoms (PHQD scale, p < 0.05). Salt restriction, cortisol after dexamethasone suppression test and dosage of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system (RAAS) blockers were independently associated with BP reduction. CONCLUSION: A moderate restriction of dietary salt intake in patients with PA substantially reduces BP and depressive symptoms. Moreover, the findings underline that a sufficient RAAS blockade seems to augment the effects of salt restriction on BP and cardiovascular risk.

Sleep disturbances in primary aldosteronism are associated to depressive symptoms - Could specific mineralocorticoidreceptors be a common pathway?

Symptoms of depression and anxiety are frequent in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) and are supposed to be independent risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). As patients with PA have an increased cardiovascular risk compared to patients with essential hypertension, sleep disturbances, which often accompany depressive and anxiety symptoms, may be an additional contributor to the cardiometabolic consequences of PA. To clarify this possible link we investigated 132 patients with PA at baseline and after one year after initiation of treatment either by adrenalectomy (ADX) or mineralocorticoid-receptor-antagonist (MRA). Sleep disturbances and daytime sleepiness were assessed with Pittsburg sleep Inventory (PSQI) and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS). Patients with PA showed pathological scores for sleep disturbances at baseline according to PSQI, with females being more affected (8.1 vs. 5.7 p < 0.001), which was significantly improved after initiation of specific treatment (p = 0.002). For ESS we found scores within the normal range, but higher than the general population, which significantly improved at follow-up (p < 0.001). The intensity of sleep disturbances was highly correlated with scores of anxiety and depression at baseline and follow-up. However, clinical and biochemical markers of PA (e.g. aldosterone, blood pressure) and metabolic markers did not show a consistent association with sleep changes. The degree of improvement in PSQI was significantly associated with the improvement of brief patients health questionnaire (PHQD) (p = 0.0151). Sleep disturbances seem not to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic problems in PA. They are strongly associated to depressive symptoms and maybe mediated by the same mineralocorticoid receptor circuits.

Biochemical Control in Cushing's syndrome: Outcomes of the treatment in a large single center cohort.

BACKGROUND: Normalization of hypercortisolism is essential to reduce morbidity and mortality in patients with Cushing's syndrome (CS). The aim of this analysis was to assess biochemical control rates in patients with Cushing's disease (CD), ectopic Cushing's syndrome (ECS) and adrenal Cushing's syndrome (ACS). METHODS: Patients with confirmed CS (n= 296) treated in a single tertiary care center were retrospectively analysed (185 CD, 27 ECS, 84 uni- and bilateral ACS). RESULTS: Firstline treatment led to biochemical control in 82% of the patients. Time to biochemical control (median, IQR) was longer in CD (11.0 weeks, 5.6-29.8; p< 0.05) than in ACS (7.7 weeks, 4.1-17.1) and ECS (5.6 weeks, 4.1-23.3). Disease persistence or recurrence after first-line therapy was observed more often in CD (24% and 18%; p< 0.05) than in ECS (15% and 15%) and ACS (6% and 4%). Total time in hypercortisolism since diagnosis was significantly shorter in patients with CD diagnosed since 2013, after specialized patient care was implemented, compared to patients diagnosed before 2013 (13.5 weeks, vs. 26.1 weeks; p< 0.0070). Control of hypercortisolism at last follow up (76 months, 38-163) was achieved in 94% of patients with ACS, 100% of patients with ECS and 92% of patients with CD. CONCLUSIONS: Biochemical control can be achieved in most patients with different subtypes of CS within a reasonable time frame. Control of hypercortisolism has improved over time.

Delineating endogenous Cushing's syndrome by GC-MS urinary steroid metabotyping.

BACKGROUND: Diagnosing Cushing's syndrome (CS) is highly complex. As the diagnostic potential of urinary steroid metabolome analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in combination with systems biology has not yet been fully exploited, we studied a large cohort of patients with CS. METHODS: We quantified daily urinary excretion rates of 36 steroid hormone metabolites. Applying cluster analysis, we investigated a control group and 168 patients: 44 with Cushing's disease (CD) (70% female), 18 with unilateral cortisol-producing adrenal adenoma (83% female), 13 with primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (PBMAH) (77% female), and 93 ruled-out CS (73% female). FINDINGS: Cluster-Analysis delineated five urinary steroid metabotypes in CS. Metabotypes 1, 2 and 3 revealing average levels of cortisol and adrenal androgen metabolites included patients with exclusion of CS or and healthy controls. Metabotype 4 reflecting moderately elevated cortisol metabolites but decreased DHEA metabolites characterized the patients with unilateral adrenal CS and PBMAH. Metabotype 5 showing strong increases both in cortisol and DHEA metabolites, as well as overloaded enzymes of cortisol inactivation, was characteristic of CD patients. 11-oxygenated androgens were elevated in all patients with CS. The biomarkers THS, F, THF/THE, and (An + Et)/(11ß-OH-An + 11ß-OH-Et) correctly classified 97% of patients with CS and 95% of those without CS. An inverse relationship between 11-deoxygenated and 11-oxygenated androgens was typical for the ACTH independent (adrenal) forms of CS with an accuracy of 95%. INTERPRETATION: GC-MS based urinary steroid metabotyping allows excellent identification of patients with endogenous CS and differentiation of its subtypes. FUNDING: The study was funded by the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung and the Eva-Luise-und-Horst-Köhler-Stiftung.

Polymorphisms in FKBP5 are associated with increased recurrence of depressive episodes and rapid response to antidepressant treatment.

The stress hormone-regulating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been implicated in the causality as well as the treatment of depression. To investigate a possible association between genes regulating the HPA axis and response to antidepressants and susceptibility for depression, we genotyped single-nucleotide polymorphisms in eight of these genes in depressed individuals and matched controls. We found significant associations of response to antidepressants and the recurrence of depressive episodes with single-nucleotide polymorphisms in FKBP5, a glucocorticoid receptor-regulating cochaperone of hsp-90, in two independent samples. These single-nucleotide polymorphisms were also associated with increased intracellular FKBP5 protein expression, which triggers adaptive changes in glucocorticoid receptor and, thereby, HPA-axis regulation. Individuals carrying the associated genotypes had less HPA-axis hyperactivity during the depressive episode. We propose that the FKBP5 variant-dependent alterations in HPA-axis regulation could be related to the faster response to antidepressant drug treatment and the increased recurrence of depressive episodes observed in this subgroup of depressed individuals. These findings support a central role of genes regulating the HPA axis in the causality of depression and the mechanism of action of antidepressant drugs.

Low-grade inflammation during the glucocorticoid withdrawal phase in patients with Cushing's syndrome.

IMPORTANCE: Endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS) leads to profound immunosuppression. Successful surgery induces biochemical remission and reversal of immunosuppression, which is characterized by clinical signs of glucocorticoid withdrawal and associated with increased susceptibility to infections and thromboembolic complications. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that the glucocorticoid withdrawal phase is characterized by low-grade inflammation that may be related to patient-relevant outcomes. SETTING: In this retrospective observational study, we analyzed longitudinal data from 80 patients with CS prospectively enrolled in the German Cushing's registry between 2012 and 2021. All enrolled patients underwent successful surgery. In a second step, a case-control study was performed in 25 of the patients with age-, gender-, and body mass index-matched control patients in whom hypercortisolism was excluded. Analyses included the inflammatory markers C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, as well as body composition, muscle function testing, and quality-of-life questionnaires. The patients were studied during active CS and in the postoperative remission phase 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery. RESULTS: Compared with the preoperative phase and matched controls, patients with CS had increased systemic inflammatory markers in the early remission phase. One month following surgery, median (interquartile range) C-reactive protein was 0.48 mg dL-1 (0.14-0.90) vs 0.10 mg dL-1 (0.06-0.39) during active CS (P ≤ .001). Similarly, interleukin-6 1 month after surgery was 7.2 pg mL-1 (3.3-11.7) vs 1.7 pg mL-1 (1.5-2.5) during active CS (P ≤ .001). Obesity and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) were associated with increased inflammation levels. This proinflammatory state lasted until 1 year following surgery. Moreover, inflammatory markers during early remission showed an inverse correlation with long-term muscle function. CONCLUSIONS: The glucocorticoid withdrawal phase is associated with a low-grade inflammatory state, which is particularly pronounced in obese and hyperglycemic patients and related to lower muscle function.

Glucocorticoid receptor polymorphism BclI with increased glucocorticoid sensitivity has a positive influence on quality of life in endogenous Cushing's syndrome in remission.

CONTEXT: Patients with endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS) may suffer from a wide range of neuropsychiatric symptoms leading to impaired quality of life (QoL). OBJECTIVE: Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) polymorphisms are associated with increased (BclI and N363S) or decreased (A3669G and ER22/23EK) GR sensitivity. HYPOTHESIS: GR genotypes may modulate and affect QoL and recovery after remission differently via GR sensitivity. METHODS: 295 patients with endogenous CS (81 active, 214 in remission) from 3 centers of the German Cushing's Registry were included for the cross-sectional analysis. All subjects were assessed with three questionnaires (CushingQoL, Tuebingen CD-25, SF-36). For the longitudinal part, 120 patients of them were analyzed at baseline and after 1.5 ± 0.9 yrs of follow-up. DNA samples were obtained from peripheral blood leukocytes for GR genotyping. RESULTS: Patients in remission scored significantly better than patients with active CS in the CushingQoL questionnaire and in the SF-36 sub-categories physical and social functioning, role-physical, bodily pain, and vitality. In cross-sectional analysis, no differences in QoL between minor allele and wildtype carriers were detected for all polymorphisms in active or cured CS. In longitudinal analysis, however, carriers with BclI minor allele showed significant improvement in SF-36 sub-categories vitality (P = .038) and mental health (P = .013) compared to wildtype carriers (active CS at baseline vs. CS in remission at follow-up). The outcome of the two questionnaires CushingQoL and Tuebingen CD-25 improved significantly in both wildtype and minor allele carriers. CONCLUSION: BclI minor allele carriers initially had the lowest QoL but recovered better from impaired QoL than wildtype carriers.

Whom Should We Screen for Cushing Syndrome? The Endocrine Society Practice Guideline Recommendations 2008 Revisited.

CONTEXT: Cushing syndrome (CS) is a rare and serious disease with high mortality. Patients are often diagnosed late in the course of the disease. OBJECTIVE: This work investigated whether defined patient populations should be screened outside the at-risk populations defined in current guidelines. METHODS: As part of the prospective German Cushing registry, we studied 377 patients with suspected CS. The chief complaint for CS referral was documented. Using urinary free cortisol, late-night salivary cortisol, and the 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test as well as long-term clinical observation, CS was confirmed in 93 patients and ruled out for the remaining 284. RESULTS: Patients were referred for 18 key symptoms, of which 5 were more common in patients with CS than in those in whom CS was ruled out: osteoporosis (8% vs 2%; P = .02), adrenal incidentaloma (17% vs 8%, P = 0.01), metabolic syndrome (11% vs 4%; P = .02), myopathy (10% vs 2%; P < .001), and presence of multiple symptoms (16% vs 1%; P < .001). Obesity was more common in patients in whom CS was ruled out (30% vs 4%, P < .001), but recent weight gain was prominent in those with CS. A total of 68 of 93 patients with CS (73%) had typical chief complaints, as did 106 of 284 of patients with ruled-out CS status (37%) according to the Endocrine Society practice guideline 2008. CONCLUSION: The 2008 Endocrine Society Practice guideline for screening and diagnosis of CS defined at-risk populations that should undergo testing. These recommendations are still valid in 2022.

Diurnal Salivary Cortisol Profiles in Patients with Cushing's Syndrome.

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.

Differential central regulatory mineralocorticoidreceptor systems for anxiety and depression - Could KCNJ5 be an interesting target for further investigations in major depression?

The mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) is suggested to play a role in the pathophysiology of depression and anxiety. Main support comes from studies in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) which suggested different central pathways for depression and anxiety mediated via the MR and gender differences. We investigated 118 patients with PA over 3 years using self-rating questionnaires for anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQD) at baseline and once a year under specific treatment with adrenalectomy (ADX; n = 48) or a MR antagonist (MRA; n = 70). Genotyping for KCNJ5 mutation was performed in resected tumors. At baseline, patients treated by ADX or MRA had comparable scores for anxiety and depression. Females showed a better metabolic profile but higher scores of depression and anxiety, compared to males. Initiation of specific treatment for PA resulted in a better response in depressive symptoms after ADX and of anxiety under MRA treatment. However, GAD-7 and PHQD remained high in women over the three-year follow-up. KCNJ5 mutation, linked to co-secretion of hybrid steroids as 18-oxocortisol and 18-hydroxycortisol, was detected in 10 female and 2 male patients. They tended to have higher GAD and PHQD scores at baseline compared to patients without KNCJ5 mutation, but showed a significant better reduction in symptoms of anxiety during the 3-year follow up compared to patients without this mutation (all p < 0.05). These data support a differentiated regulation of depression and anxiety by the MR. Moreover, genetic mutations such as KCNJ5 could affect the pathophysiology of these disorders by impacting in adrenal steroidogenesis.

Influence of cortisol cosecretion on non-ACTH-stimulated adrenal venous sampling in primary aldosteronism: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Cortisol measurements are essential for the interpretation of adrenal venous samplings (AVS) in primary aldosteronism (PA). Cortisol cosecretion may influence AVS indices. We aimed to investigate whether cortisol cosecretion affects non-adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH)-stimulated AVS results. Design: Retrospective cohort study at a tertiary referral center. Methods: We analyzed 278 PA patients who underwent non-ACTH-stimulated AVS and had undergone at least a 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test (DST). Subsets underwent additional late-night salivary cortisol (LSC) and/or 24-h urinary free cortisol (UFC) measurements. Patients were studied from 2013 to 2020 with follow-up data of 6 months following adrenalectomy or mineralocorticoid antagonist therapy initiation. We analyzed AVS parameters including adrenal vein aldosterone/cortisol ratios, selectivity, lateralization (LI) and contralateral suppression indices and post-operative ACTH-stimulation. We classified outcomes according to the primary aldosteronism surgical outcome (PASO) criteria. Results: Among the patients, 18.9% had a pathological DST result (1.9-5 µg/dL: n = 44 (15.8%); >5 µg/dL: n = 8 (2.9%)). Comparison of AVS results stratified according to the 1-mg DST (≤1.8 vs >1.8 µg/dL: P = 0.499; ≤1.8 vs 1.8 ≤ 5 vs >5 µg/dL: P = 0.811) showed no difference. Lateralized cases with post DST serum cortisol values > 5 µg/dL had lower LI (≤1.8 µg/dL: 11.11 (5.36; 26.76) vs 1.9-5 µg/dL: 11.76 (4.9; 31.88) vs >5 µg/dL: 2.58 (1.67; 3.3); P = 0.008). PASO outcome was not different according to cortisol cosecretion. Conclusions: Marked cortisol cosecretion has the potential to influence non-ACTH-stimulated AVS results. While this could result in falsely classified lateralized cases as bilateral, further analysis of substitutes for cortisol are required to unmask effects on clinical outcome.

Differential effects of reduced mineralocorticoid receptor activation by unilateral adrenalectomy vs mineralocorticoid antagonist treatment in patients with primary aldosteronism - Implications for depression and anxiety.

The mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and its ligand aldosterone have been found to play a major role in the pathophysiology of depression. Both could be targets of therapeutic interventions. We analyzed laboratory data and questionnaires evaluating anxiety (using GAD-7 questionnaire) and depression (using PHQD questionnaire) of up to 210 patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) (82 females, 54.7 ± 12.0yrs; 128 males, 48.7 ± 12.8yrs) before and one year after initiation of specific treatment of PA by either adrenalectomy (ADX) or treatment with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA). After ADX normalization of aldosterone excess was observed. This was associated with a significant reduction of depressive symptoms, but no significant change in GAD-7 score. MRA treatment was accompanied with persistent high aldosterone levels, but led to a significant improvement of anxiety, but no significant changes in PHQD scores. These data suggest different mechanistic pathways for depression and anxiety mediated via the MR. For treatment of depression a reduction of aldosterone levels might be relevant at CNS locations specific for aldosterone, whereas MRA targets MR more broadly, including areas, where cortisol is the main ligand. MRA may be useful in treatment of anxiety related behavior.

Autonomous Cortisol Secretion Influences Psychopathological Symptoms in Patients With Primary Aldosteronism.

CONTEXT: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is associated with impaired quality of life (QoL). Autonomous cortisol cosecretion (ACS) is a relevant phenotype of PA, which could contribute to depression and anxiety disorders. This has not been investigated so far. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of depression and anxiety in PA patients according to ACS. METHODS: We performed testing for hypercortisolism and evaluated anxiety, depression and QoL by self-rating questionnaires in newly diagnosed PA patients of the German Conn's Registry; 298 patients were reevaluated at follow-up. RESULTS: In the overall cohort, scores for anxiety (P < .001), depression (P < .001), and QoL (mental P = .021; physical P = .015) improved significantly at follow-up. This improvement was seen in both subgroups of patients with and without ACS, with the exception of the mental subscore in no-ACS patients. Analysis for sex differences showed that anxiety decreased significantly in females with ACS and no-ACS, whereas males with no-ACS failed to improve. Depression improved significantly in males and females with ACS (P = .004, P = 0.011 respectively), but not in those with no-ACS. Physical subscore of QoL improved significantly (P = .023) in females with ACS and mental subscore (P = .027) in males with ACS, whereas no differences were seen for the no-ACS groups. CONCLUSION: Improvement in depression and anxiety scores in response to treatment of PA is more pronounced in patients with ACS in contrast to no-ACS suggesting a role of ACS in the psychopathological symptoms of patients with PA. Furthermore, we observed significant differences in depression and anxiety scores between the sexes.

Altered Taste Perception for Sodium Chloride in Patients With Primary Aldosteronism: A Prospective Cohort Study.

[Figure: see text].

Renin, a marker for left ventricular hypertrophy, in primary aldosteronism: a cohort study.

CONTEXT: Primary aldosteronism (PA) causes left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) via hemodynamic factors and directly by aldosterone effects. Specific treatment by mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA) or adrenalectomy (ADX) has been reported to improve LVH. However, the cardiovascular benefit could depend on plasma renin concentration (PRC) in patients on MRA. PATIENTS AND OBJECTIVE: We analyzed data from 184 patients from the Munich center of the German Conn's Registry, who underwent echocardiography at the time of diagnosis and 1 year after treatment. To assess the effect of PRC on cardiac recovery, we stratified patients on MRA according to suppression (n = 46) or non-suppression of PRC (n = 59) at follow-up and compared them to PA patients after ADX (n = 79). RESULTS: At baseline, patients treated by ADX or MRA had comparable left ventricular mass index (LVMI, 61.7 vs 58.9 g/m2.7, P = 0.591). Likewise, patients on MRA had similar LVMI at baseline, when stratified into treatment groups with suppressed and unsuppressed PRC during follow-up (60.0 vs 58.1 g/m2.7, P = 0.576). In all three groups, we observed a significant reduction in LVMI following treatment (P < 0.001). However, patients with suppressed PRC had no decrease in pro-BNP levels, and the reduction of LVMI was less intense than in patients with unsuppressed PRC (4.1 vs 8.2 g/m2.7, P = 0.033) or after ADX (9.3 g/m2.7, P = 0.019). Similarly, in multivariate analysis, higher PRC was correlated with the regression of LVH. CONCLUSION: PA patients with suppressed PRC on MRA show impaired regression of LVH. Therefore, dosing of MRA according to PRC could improve their cardiovascular benefit.

Sleep in pituitary insufficient patients compared to patients with depression and healthy controls at baseline and after challenge with CRH.

Sleep disturbances are prevalent in both patients with pituitary insufficiency and with depression. The role of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), involved in sleep regulation, has not been fully clarified. Pituitary insufficiency is an ideal model for studying sleep-endocrine effects since no consecutive hormone releases and feedback effects occur after hormone administration. 11 male patients with a chronic insufficiency of the anterior pituitary gland (PI) and under stable hormonal substitution were studied during three consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory. The first night served for adapting to laboratory setting, during the second night placebo was administered and during the third night 4 × 50 µg CRH were injected in pulsatile fashion. Sleep parameters were additionally compared with those of 15 healthy male controls (C) and 15 male patients with depression (D). CRH administration was associated with a numerical increase of wake time (115 ± 15 to 131 ± 13 min) and a decrease of REM sleep (89 ± 8 to 80 ± 8 min), REM latency (69 ± 14 to 55 ± 9 min) and slow wave sleep (66 ± 16 to 57 ± 15 min). Yet, none of these changes reached statistical significance. PI showed a worse sleep profile as compared to both control groups, e.g. indicated by a significantly lower sleep efficiency index (PI:0.80 ± 0.03 vs. C:0.94 ± 0.01 vs. D:0.87 ± 0.03). In conclusion sleep-EEG changes after CRH in PI patients resemble those found in in part in patients with depression. Sleep in anterior pituitary insufficiency was impaired despite full hormonal substitution possibly suggesting an alteration of the receptor organisation of brain structures involved in sleep regulation.

The potential pathophysiological role of aldosterone and the mineralocorticoid receptor in anxiety and depression - Lessons from primary aldosteronism.

High levels of aldosterone appear to be related to depressive and anxiety related behavior as demonstrated in therapy refractory depression and primary aldosteronism (PA). We analyzed data from a large register of patients with PA in order to clarify mediators and moderators of this influence. Up to 624 subjects were analyzed, however not all subjects had a complete dataset. Due to the known gender differences in subjects with PA we performed the analyses adjusted for gender. We compared subjects with (PHQ-9 ≥ 5) vs. no depressive symptomatology. 56% of men and 61% of women met this depression criterion. In women aldosterone concentration was significantly higher in depressed patients and renin levels were significantly increased with higher anxiety scores. This was not found in men. Depressive symptoms in men and women were significantly associated to BMI (men: dep vs non-dep: 29.6 vs. 28.4, p < 0.05; women: 26.9 vs. 24.5) and body weight (p < 0.05). Neither blood pressure nor electrolytes were different between depression groups. The relationship of these parameters to anxiety was less pronounced and partially unexpected: only in men higher anxiety (GAD ≥ 5) was related to lower systolic blood pressure. In conclusion, higher aldosterone appears to be associated with depressive symptoms in women, but less so in men with PA. BMI appears to be strongly and independently associated with depressive symptoms in patients with PA, independent of gender. Further studies are required to clarify the causal relationship.

Persisting Muscle Dysfunction in Cushing's Syndrome Despite Biochemical Remission.

CONTEXT: Glucocorticoid-induced myopathy is a characteristic symptom of endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS). Its long-term outcome is largely unknown. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate long-term muscle function following the remission of endogenous CS. STUDY DESIGN: Observational longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Tertiary care hospitals and a specialized outpatient clinic. PATIENTS: As part of the prospective multicenter German Cushing's Registry, we assessed muscle strength in patients with overt endogenous CS. We studied the patients at the time of diagnosis (n = 88), after 6 months (n = 69), and thereafter annually, following surgical remission over a period of up to 4 years (1 year: n = 55; 2 years: n = 34; 3 years: n = 29; 4 years: n = 22). Muscle function was evaluated by hand grip strength and by chair rising test. RESULTS: Grip strength was decreased to 83% of normal controls (100%) at the time of diagnosis. It further decreased to 71% after 6 months in remission (P ≤ 0.001) and showed no improvement during further follow-up compared with baseline. Chair rising test performance improved initially (8 seconds at baseline vs 7 seconds after 6 months, P = 0.004) but remained at this reduced level thereafter (7 seconds after 3 years vs 5 seconds in controls, P = 0.038). In multivariate analysis, we identified, as predictors for long-term muscle dysfunction, age, waist-to-hip ratio, and hemoglobin A1c at baseline. Furthermore, muscle strength during follow-up was strongly correlated with quality of life. CONCLUSION: This study shows that CS-associated myopathy does not spontaneously resolve during remission. This calls for action to identify effective interventions to improve muscle dysfunction in this setting.

Spironolactone reduces biochemical markers of bone turnover in postmenopausal women with primary aldosteronism.

CONTEXT: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent form of endocrine hypertension. Besides its deleterious impact on cardiovascular target organ damage, PA is considered to cause osteoporosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We assessed bone turnover in a subset of 36 postmenopausal women with PA. 18 patients had unilateral PA and were treated by adrenalectomy, whereas 18 patients had bilateral PA and received mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) therapy respectively. 18 age- and BMI-matched females served as controls. To estimate bone remodeling, we measured the bone turnover markers intact procollagen 1 N-terminal propeptide, bone alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase 5b in plasma by chemiluminescent immunoassays at time of diagnosis and one year after initiation of treatment. STUDY DESIGN: Observational longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Tertiary care hospital. RESULTS: Compared with controls, patients with PA had mildly elevated osteocalcin at baseline (p = 0.013), while the other bone markers were comparable between both groups. There were no differences between the unilateral and the bilateral PA subgroup. One year after initiation of MRA treatment with spironolactone bone resorption and bone formation markers had significantly decreased in patients with bilateral PA. In contrast, patients adrenalectomized because of unilateral PA showed no significant change of bone turnover markers. CONCLUSION: This study shows that aldosterone excess in postmenopausal women with PA is not associated with a relevant increase of bone turnover markers at baseline. However, we observed a significant decrease of bone markers in patients treated with spironolactone, but not in patients treated by adrenalectomy.

Clinical characteristics and treatment outcome in a representative sample of depressed inpatients - findings from the Munich Antidepressant Response Signature (MARS) project.

Depression is a common and often difficult-to-treat clinical condition with a high rate of patients showing insufficient treatment response and persistence of symptoms. We report the characteristics of a representative sample of depressed inpatients participating in the Munich Antidepressant Response Signature (MARS) project. Eight hundred and forty-two inpatients admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment of a major depressive episode, recurrent or bipolar depression were thoroughly characterized with respect to demographic factors, clinical history, and the degree of HPA-axis dysregulation evaluated by means of combined dex/CRH tests, and the predictive value of these factors for treatment outcome is investigated. 80.8% of patients responded to treatment (i.e., improvement in symptom severity of at least 50%) and 57.9% reached remission (i.e., near absence of residual depressive symptoms) at discharge after a mean treatment period of 11.8 weeks. Regression analysis identified early partial response (within 2 weeks) as the most important positive predictor for achieving remission. Previous ineffective treatment trials in the current episode and presence of a migration background are potent negative predictors for treatment outcome. In addition, remitters were characterized by a more pronounced normalization of an initially dysregulated HPA-axis. We could show that a large majority of inpatients suffering from depression benefits from antidepressant treatment during hospitalization. However, a considerable number of patients failed to achieve remission. We demonstrated that this subgroup can be characterized by a set of demographic, clinical and neuroendocrine variables allowing to predict unfavorable outcome at an early stage of treatment.