8205 Within day Symptoms Of Adrenal Insufficiency Predict Reduced Quality Of Life And Adrenal Crises In 712 MyAI Registry Participants
Authors: Kallet Julia G , Hover Whitaker , Krein Aiden , Lowe Melissa , Slovick Michal F , Kinney Gregory , Majka Susan , Warren Kalina , Watts Shandi , McDermott Michael T , Regan Elizabeth A 
Published: October 2024

Disclosure: J.G. Kallet: None. W. Hover: None. A. Krein: None. M. Lowe: None. M.F. Slovick: None. G. Kinney: None. S. Majka: None. K. Warren: None. S. Watts: None. M.T. McDermott: None. E.A. Regan: None.

Multiple studies have shown reduced quality of life in people with adrenal insufficiency based on 1- 4 week recall of symptoms. However, “within-day” symptoms are commonly reported to treating physicians, and there is no clear understanding of what these symptoms represent for quality of life or adequate disease management. Lack of adequate cortisol has been postulated as a factor for both persistent symptoms and reduced quality of life but dose adjustment is not typically prescribed. Within-day symptoms are similar to those reported prior to treatment, and include lack of energy, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, headache, dizziness, shakiness, muscle cramps, and cognitive impairments. Addressing the relationship between “within-day” symptoms and replacement dosing could improve disease management. Further, understanding the association of within-day symptoms to outcomes (quality of life and adrenal crises) provides an impetus to change the standard of care. Individuals enrolled in the MyAI registry provided information about “within-day” symptoms. These included energy to accomplish tasks, cognitive symptoms, and overall symptoms. The questions were scored with increased values representing greater and more frequent symptoms and were summed to create a severity score. Patients also reported adrenal crisis within the past year and completed the AddiQoL as quality of life over the past 4 weeks.Responses were obtained from 712 adult registry participants - 84% female, age range 23-89, mean 51.2 (15.2) years - and 47% reported an adrenal crisis within the past year. Within-day symptom score range was 3-15 points with mean 7.9 and SD of 2.96. Higher “within-day” symptom scores were associated with stepwise reductions in the AddiQoL (worse quality of life). Individuals who reported an adrenal crisis within the past year had significantly increased symptom scores [8.8 (2.9) vs 6.7 (2.5), p&lt;0.0001]. Regression model for the AddiQoL total score (R2 = 0.8) found after adjusting for group, age and sex, that BMI (p = 0.0002) and symptom score (p&lt;0.0001) were highly significant predictors of worse AddiQoL score. ConclusionAdrenal crisis is reported frequently by patients who are being treated for adrenal insufficiency. We found a strong association of “within-day” symptoms to both risk of adrenal crisis and reduced quality of life. Addressing persistent disease-related symptoms in adrenal insufficiency would be an appropriate disease management response to improve care. The initial choice of replacement dosing based on body surface area or other metric may be a starting point for care but should be informed by studies that show large variation in absorption and metabolism between individuals. Adjusting doses of replacement hormones and careful management of adrenal insufficiency symptoms could improve outcomes.

Presentation: 6/1/2024