Late night salivary cortisol and cortisone should be the initial screening test for Cushing’s syndrome
File(s)LNSC article Endocrine Connections.pdf (621.13 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Endogenous Cushing’s syndrome (CS) poses considerable diagnostic challenges. Although late night salivary cortisol (LNSC) is recommended as a first line screening investigation, it remains the least widely used test in many countries. The combined measurement of LNSC and late-night salivary cortisone (LNS cortisone) has shown to further improve diagnostic accuracy1. We present a retrospective study in a tertiary referral centre comparing LNSC, LNS cortisone, overnight dexamethasone suppression test, low dose dexamethasone suppression test and 24-hour urinary free cortisol results of patients investigated for CS. Patients were categorised into those who had CS (21 patients) and those who did not (33 patients).LNSC had a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 91%. LNS cortisone had a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 86%. With an optimal cut-off for LNS cortisone of >14.5 nmol/l the sensitivity was 95.2%, and the specificity was 100% with an area under the curve of 0.997, for diagnosing CS. Saliva collection is non-invasive and can be carried out at home.We therefore advocate simultaneous measurement of LNSC and LNS cortisone as the first-line screening test to evaluate patients with suspected CS.
Date Issued
2022-06-07
Date Acceptance
2022-06-07
Citation
Endocrine Connections, 2022, 11 (7)
ISSN
2049-3614
Publisher
Bioscientifica
Journal / Book Title
Endocrine Connections
Volume
11
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© 2022 The authors 2022. This work is published under CC BY-NC-ND licence.
Identifier
https://ec.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/ec/aop/ec-22-0050/ec-22-0050.xml
Subjects
Cushing’s syndrome
salivary cortisol
salivary cortisone
screening
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2022-06-07