Endocrine Abstracts

Adrenal crisis is a life-threatening emergency requiring immediate treatment with high glucocorticoid doses. In diagnosed Addison’s disease between 3.8% and 29% of patients are estimated to need emergency hospital treatment per annum (Arlt & Allolio, 2003; Fleming & Ostergaard Kristensen, 1999).In 2003 we conducted the largest international survey of diagnosed Addison’s patients to date (N=868), enquiring about the causes and fre...

Autoimmune hypoadrenalism (Addison’s disease) is a rare condition with a European prevalence of up to 140 per million1. It frequently occurs in association with other organ-specific autoimmune diseases, both endocrine and non-endocrine. These conditions are recognised to occur in the extended family, but their prevalence has been hard to determine, because of the rarity of the disease.In 2003 we conducted the largest international survey ...

Acute adrenal insufficiency requires immediate treatment with high-dose glucocorticoid and represents a life-threatening emergency. Previous research suggests that primary hypoadrenalism patients (Addison’s disease) are more vulnerable to adrenal emergency than steroid-dependent pituitary patients (Arlt & Allolio 2003).In 2006, we surveyed the membership of the UK Addison’s disease Self-Help Group, comprising 982 hypoadrenalism patients, an...

Adrenal insufficiency (AI) patients who are deprived of regular steroid replacement therapy rapidly become unwell. However, the interval for which AI patients might safely be withdrawn from steroid medication for clinical purposes, such as re-assessment of adrenal reserve, is largely a matter of speculation, since it would be difficult to construct an ethical trial on this matter. Valuable insights into this dilemma can be gained from the case studies of an early clinical rese...