Whom Should We Screen for Cushing Syndrome? The Endocrine Society Practice Guideline Recommendations 2008 Revisited.

Context: Cushing syndrome (CS) is a rare and serious disease with high mortality. Patients are often diagnosed late in the course of the disease.

Objective: This work investigated whether defined patient populations should be screened outside the at-risk populations defined in current guidelines.

Methods: As part of the prospective German Cushing registry, we studied 377 patients with suspected CS. The chief complaint for CS referral was documented. Using urinary free cortisol, late-night salivary cortisol, and the 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test as well as long-term clinical observation, CS was confirmed in 93 patients and ruled out for the remaining 284.

Results: Patients were referred for 18 key symptoms, of which 5 were more common in patients with CS than in those in whom CS was ruled out: osteoporosis (8% vs 2%; P = .02), adrenal incidentaloma (17% vs 8%, P = 0.01), metabolic syndrome (11% vs 4%; P = .02), myopathy (10% vs 2%; P < .001), and presence of multiple symptoms (16% vs 1%; P < .001). Obesity was more common in patients in whom CS was ruled out (30% vs 4%, P < .001), but recent weight gain was prominent in those with CS. A total of 68 of 93 patients with CS (73%) had typical chief complaints, as did 106 of 284 of patients with ruled-out CS status (37%) according to the Endocrine Society practice guideline 2008.

Conclusion: The 2008 Endocrine Society Practice guideline for screening and diagnosis of CS defined at-risk populations that should undergo testing. These recommendations are still valid in 2022.