Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Non-functional adrenal incidentalomas (AI) are currently quite important since they can also cause metabolic disturbances. This study was designed to evaluate possible insulin resistance indicators and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with non-functional AI.

Patients and methods: 83 patients with non-functional AI were enrolled to the study. Control group consisted of 56 patients without any adrenal lesion. Fasting blood glucose, and insulin levels, lipid profiles, uric acid, homocysteine, fibrinogen, C-reactive protein (CRP) and adinopectin levels of study and control groups were determined. HOMA-IR scores and carotid intima media thicknesses (CIMT) of were determined as well.

Results: Fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin levels and HOMA–IR scores were found to be significantly higher in patients compared to controls (P<0.001 for all comparisons). Besides, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels, homocysteine and fibrinogen levels were found to be higher in patients group as well. No significant differences were found between patients and control groups in terms of adinopectin and uric acid. CIMT values were also found to be significantly higher in patients with AI than the controls (0.74±0.14 vs 0.53±0.09, P<0.001).

Conclusion: Patients with non-functional adrenal incidentaloma may be linked with insulin resistance, thus metabolic disturbances. Patients with AI are prone to have premature cardiovascular disease since their CIMT values are higher compared with controls.