Endocrinology and Metabolism (Dec 2015)

Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Patients with Cushing Syndrome: Evaluation with Carotid Intima-Media Thickness and Ankle-Brachial Index

  • Luigi Petramala,
  • D'Elia Lorenzo,
  • Gino Iannucci,
  • Antonio Concistré,
  • Laura Zinnamosca,
  • Cristiano Marinelli,
  • Giuseppe De Vincentis,
  • Antonio Ciardi,
  • Giorgio De Toma,
  • Claudio Letizia

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3803/EnM.2015.30.4.488
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 30, no. 4
pp. 488 – 493

Abstract

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BackgroundCushing syndrome (CS) has been described as a killing disease due its cardiovascular complications. In fact, chronic cortisol excess leads to a constellation of complications, including hypertension, hyperglycemia, adiposity, and thromboembolism. The main vascular alteration associated with CS is atherosclerosis.MethodsAim of this study was to analyze carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and ankle-brachial index (ABI), two surrogate markers of subclinical atherosclerosis in a consecutive series of CS patients, compared to patients with essential hypertension (EH) and health subjects (HS).ResultsPatients with CS showed a significant increase (P<0.05) of cIMT (0.89±0.17 mm) compared to EH (0.81±0.16 mm) and HS (0.75±0.4 mm), with a high prevalence of plaque (23%; P<0.03). Moreover, CS patients showed a mean ABI values (1.07±0.02) significantly lower respect to HS (1.12±0.11; P<0.05), and a higher percentage (20%) of pathological values of ABI (≤0.9; P<0.03).ConclusionIn conclusion, we confirmed and extended the data of cIMT in CS, and showed that the ABI represent another surrogate marker of subclinical atherosclerosis in this disease.

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