Endocrine Abstracts

Patients on long term prednisolone therapy have suppression of their hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The short synacthen test (SST) is routinely employed to assess the viability of the HPA axis. However, as this test examines only adrenal function it may fail to identify those patients with secondary adrenal insufficiency. The overnight metyrapone test (OMT) may be a better test as it examines the whole HPA axis.We have compared the responses t...

Objective: To determine whether transdermal oestrogen (E2) preparations alter total cortisol and cortisol binding globulin (CBG) concentration similarly to oral E2 treatment.Methods: This cross-sectional, observational study compared levels of total serum cortisol, CBG, the free cortisol index (FCI) and salivary cortisol levels (as a measure of free cortisol) in oestrogen naïve women (n=15), women taking oral oestrogen (...