Diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in ICU

Critical illness elicits a major stress response that activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The diurnal variation is often lost. The criteria for determining which patients have an adequate response to severe stress and which have an inadequate response are arbitrary and controv...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mat Nor, Mohd Basri
Format: Proceeding Paper
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/34702/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/34702/1/ASMIC2013_basri_abstract.pdf
_version_ 1848780948586364928
author Mat Nor, Mohd Basri
author_facet Mat Nor, Mohd Basri
author_sort Mat Nor, Mohd Basri
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
description Critical illness elicits a major stress response that activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The diurnal variation is often lost. The criteria for determining which patients have an adequate response to severe stress and which have an inadequate response are arbitrary and controversial. Furthermore, cortisol metabolism and function may also be altered by other methods which include reduced cortisol breakdown, renal dysfunction, reduction in albumin and cortisol binding protein (CBP) and the effects of SIRS response on plasma cytokines. Absolute adrenal insufficiency is rare in critical care and the incidence is less than 3%. Assessing adrenal insufficiency or relative adrenal insufficiency (RAI) is challenging in the ICU. Laboratory assays of plasma cortisol concentration and ACTH stimulation test are unreliable in this setting. Although severe stress activates the HPA axis, dissociation between plasma corticotropin levels and cortisol levels may occur, marked by suppressed corticotropin levels and elevated plasma cortisol levels. Critically ill patients have a marked reduction in levels of CBP with proportional increases in free cortisol, which can diffuse into tissues. Levels of interstitial cortisol obtained by microdialysis in patients with sepsis correlated only moderately with total plasma cortisol levels. This observation suggests blood levels of cortisol poorly reflect the amount of hormone available to target tissues.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T15:41:47Z
format Proceeding Paper
id iium-34702
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T15:41:47Z
publishDate 2013
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling iium-347022020-07-15T03:03:41Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/34702/ Diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in ICU Mat Nor, Mohd Basri R Medicine (General) Critical illness elicits a major stress response that activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The diurnal variation is often lost. The criteria for determining which patients have an adequate response to severe stress and which have an inadequate response are arbitrary and controversial. Furthermore, cortisol metabolism and function may also be altered by other methods which include reduced cortisol breakdown, renal dysfunction, reduction in albumin and cortisol binding protein (CBP) and the effects of SIRS response on plasma cytokines. Absolute adrenal insufficiency is rare in critical care and the incidence is less than 3%. Assessing adrenal insufficiency or relative adrenal insufficiency (RAI) is challenging in the ICU. Laboratory assays of plasma cortisol concentration and ACTH stimulation test are unreliable in this setting. Although severe stress activates the HPA axis, dissociation between plasma corticotropin levels and cortisol levels may occur, marked by suppressed corticotropin levels and elevated plasma cortisol levels. Critically ill patients have a marked reduction in levels of CBP with proportional increases in free cortisol, which can diffuse into tissues. Levels of interstitial cortisol obtained by microdialysis in patients with sepsis correlated only moderately with total plasma cortisol levels. This observation suggests blood levels of cortisol poorly reflect the amount of hormone available to target tissues. 2013-09 Proceeding Paper NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/34702/1/ASMIC2013_basri_abstract.pdf Mat Nor, Mohd Basri (2013) Diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in ICU. In: Annual Scientifc Meeting on Intensive Care (ASMIC 2013), 20-22 September 2013, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
spellingShingle R Medicine (General)
Mat Nor, Mohd Basri
Diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in ICU
title Diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in ICU
title_full Diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in ICU
title_fullStr Diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in ICU
title_full_unstemmed Diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in ICU
title_short Diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in ICU
title_sort diagnosing and treating cortisol insufficiency in icu
topic R Medicine (General)
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/34702/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/34702/1/ASMIC2013_basri_abstract.pdf