Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Obesity and overweight persist in patients with Cushing’s disease (CD) in remission, its persistence seems to be related to the duration of the disease. The aim of this study was to describe the persistence of overweight/obesity in patients with CD in remission and their relation to the duration of the disease.

Patients and methods: Descriptive study of patients with CD (1995-2015). Variables analyzed: age, sex, body mass index (BMI), time from diagnosis to remission, urinary-free cortisol (UFC), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), expression of proopiomelanocortin (POMC) in tumor. Statistical analysis: comparing mean with t-student, comparing proportions with McNemar and correlation study with Spearman’s Rho.

Results: 49 patients with CD. 44.43±15.29 years old. Women: 89.8%. Remission 63.6%, of this, the diagnosis: overweight 22.3% (16.7% grade I y 5.6% grade II) and obesity 50.1% (27.8% grade I, 11.1% grade II, 5.6% grade III y 5.7% grade IV). After remission: overweight 33.3% (19% grade I y 14.3% grade II; P>0.05) and obesity 38.1% (9.5% grade I, 23.8% grade II, 4.8% grade III; P>0.05). Patients with normal weight vs overweight/obesity in last revision: time from diagnosis of CD to remission 41.16±34.54 vs 30.71±31.99 months (P=0.78), UFC initial 509.86±700.44 vs 798.23±764.65 mcg/24h (P=0.73), ACTH initial 75.21±39.38 vs 91.68±65.47 pg/ml (P=0.79). BMI the diagnosis 30.26±7.70 Kg/m², after remission 29.60±6.39 Kg/m² (P=0.38). BMI has a strong positive correlation with POMC [ρ=1 (P=0.01)].

Conclusions: Overweight/obesity is not reduced significantly after remission of EC. In our series, the persistence of overweight/obesity is not associated with a longer duration of the disease before remissión or with initial levels UFG or ACTH, although a positive correlation between BMI and POMC expression in the tumor was observed.