Measurement of serum free cortisol shows discordant responsivity to stress and dynamic evaluation.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_1E6729EC79EA
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Measurement of serum free cortisol shows discordant responsivity to stress and dynamic evaluation.
Journal
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
Author(s)
Christ-Crain M., Jutla S., Widmer I., Couppis O., König C., Pargger H., Puder J., Edwards R., Müller B., Grossman A.B.
ISSN
0021-972X (Print)
ISSN-L
0021-972X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2007
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
92
Number
5
Pages
1729-1735
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
CONTEXT: Routinely available assays of adrenal function measure serum total cortisol (TC) and not the biologically active free cortisol (FC). However, there are few data on FC levels during surgical stress and in response to standard pharmacological tests.
OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to evaluate TC and FC levels in different states of physical stress.
DESIGN AND SETTING: We conducted a prospective observational study in a university hospital.
PARTICIPANTS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We measured TC and FC levels in 64 patients: group A, 17 healthy controls without stress; group B, 23 medical patients with moderate stress; and group C, 24 surgical patients undergoing coronary bypass grafting. Cortisol levels in group C were measured basally and at several time points thereafter and were compared with responsivity to a pharmacological dose of ACTH. FC was measured using equilibrium dialysis.
RESULTS: In group C patients after extubation, the relative increase above basal FC was higher than the increase in TC levels (399 +/- 266 vs. 247 +/- 132% of initial values, respectively; mean +/- sd; P = 0.02) and then fell more markedly, FC levels falling to 67 +/- 49% and TC levels to 79 +/- 36% (P = 0.04). After ACTH stimulation, TC levels increased to 680 +/- 168 nmol/liter, which was similar to the increase with major stress (811 +/- 268 nmol/liter). In contrast, FC levels increased to 55 +/- 16 nmol/liter after ACTH stimulation but significantly greater with surgical stress to 108 +/- 56 nmol/liter (P < 0.001).
CONCLUSION: The more pronounced increase in FC seen during stress as compared with the ACTH test suggests that this test does not adequately anticipate the FC levels needed during severe stress.
Keywords
Adrenal Cortex Function Tests, Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Adult, Aged, Coronary Artery Bypass/adverse effects, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone/blood, Immunoenzyme Techniques, Infection/blood, Inflammation/blood, Luminescence, Male, Middle Aged, Postoperative Period, Prospective Studies, Serum/chemistry, Serum/metabolism, Stress, Physiological/blood, Stress, Physiological/etiology, Transcortin/metabolism
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
15/02/2008 17:19
Last modification date
20/08/2019 12:54
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