Etiological and clinical structure of primary chronic adrenal insufficiency: retrospective analysis of 426 cases

A retrospective analysis of case histories of 426 patients with primary chronic adrenal insufficiency (1-AI), followed up at Endocrinology Research Center, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, and/or Endocrinology Clinic of I. M. Setchenov Moscow Medical Academy in 1954-1977, was carried out in order to assess the etiological and clinical structure of this disease. The idiopathic form of Addison 's disease prevailed over its tuberculous form (70 and 30%), respectively); dynamic assessment of morbidity over the above period showed a progressive predominance of the idiopathic form. 1-AI is more than 2 times more incident in women, and the incidence of the disease in women vs. men is ever growing. There are at least 2.5 times more women than men among patients with idiopathic Addison's disease, while for the tuberculous form the ratio is 1:1. The mean age of 1-AI manifestation is 34.3 ± 0.46 years. The peak of clinical manifestation of idiopathic Addison's disease occurs between 20 and 40 years (at the age of 32.8 years on average), while for the tuberculous form this age is 30-50 years (37.4), which indicates a later manifestation of this form (p < 0.01). In 28%) cases idiopathic Addison's disease coursed in the presence of autoimmune polyglandular syndromes (APS): type 1 in 3%o and type II in 25% cases. Dynamic assessment of the ratio of the incidence of 1-AI alone to that in the presence of APS showed that from the thirties to the fifties, idiopathic Addison's disease was a component of APS in 13 % cases and by the eighties and nineties this values increased to 34%), which permits a conclusion about pathomorphism of 1-AI, consisting in gradual transfer of this disease into APS. Many patients with 1-AI develop concomitant autoimmune diseases; analysis of family history of such patients reveals autoimmune diseases in close relatives in many cases, while the majority of patients with the tuberculous form of Addison 5 disease have a family history of tuberculosis.

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