Prediction of diabetes mellitus induced by steroid overtreatment in adrenal insufficiency

To assess the differences between patients with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and prediabetes/diabetes mellitus (DM) in secondary adrenal insufficiency (SAI). We cross-sectionally evaluated 102, out of a total of 140, patients with SAI, who were on hydrocortisone (HC) (n = 50) and cortisone acetate (n = 52) replacement therapy. Clinical, anthropometric, and metabolic parameters were compared in patients with NGT (n = 60) and DM (n = 42). Patients with prediabetes/DM have a more marked family history of DM (p = 0.002), BMI (p < 0.001), higher waist circumference (p < 0.001), total cholesterol (p = 0.012), LDL-cholesterol (p = 0.004), triglycerides (p = 0.031), fasting glucose (p = 0.002), fasting insulin (p = 0.035), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (p = 0.018), HOMA-IR (p = 0.039), area under curves of glucose (p = 0.001) and insulin (p = 0.002), HbA1c (p < 0.001), Visceral adiposity index (VAI) (p = 0.038) and lower ISI-Matsuda (p = 0.008) and oral disposition index (p < 0.001) than patients with NGT. Multivariate analysis showed that family history of DM and VAI are independent predictive factors for DM in patients with SAI. Family history of DM and VAI can be predictors of the development of DM in patients with SAI and need to be investigated during steroid replacement therapy. Interestingly, the type and the dose of replacement steroid do not impact on diabetes mellitus.