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Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents with Cushing’s Syndrome before and after Surgical Cure

Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: George P. Chrousos, M.D., Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Room 10N262, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.

Approximately half of children and adolescents with Cushing’s syndrome develop hypertension. To examine the role of hypercortisolism in the pathogenesis of hypertension in young patients and to establish its reversibility, we studied 31 hypertensive children and adolescents with Cushing’s syndrome (systolic, diastolic, and/or mean blood pressure more than 2 SD U for age and sex) from a total of 63 patients before, and for a period of 1 yr after surgical cure. Preoperatively, 93.5%, 42%, and 45% of these patients presented with an increase of the systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure, respectively. The systolic blood pressure remained increased in 30.7%, 15.8%, and 5.5% of patients at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgical cure, respectively. The diastolic and mean blood pressure completely normalized by 3 months after surgical cure. A significant, positive correlation was observed between the systolic blood pressure and the duration of the disease, but no correlation was seen with the 24-h urinary free cortisol values and/or the patients’ body mass indices. The lack of correlation between 24-h urinary free cortisol values and blood pressure suggests that hypercortisolism influences blood pressure through multiple pathways. The positive correlation between the systolic blood pressure and the duration of the disease points towards the deleterious effects of prolonged hypercortisolism and the significance of early diagnosis and treatment. The fact that the blood pressure normalized within a year from the correction of hypercortisolism suggests that, as a rule, young patients with hypercortisolism do not develop essential hypertension.

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