. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2005 Sep 29.

Published in final edited form as: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2004 Dec 14;90(3):1570–1577. doi: 10.1210/jc.2004-1281

TABLE 2.

Deconvolution of the plasma cortisol concentration profiles

	Primary adrenal Cushing’s syndrome	Pituitary Cushing’s disease	Controls	ANOVA
Half-life (min)	65.4 ± 2.8	60.9 ± 2.9	62.0 ± 1.5	0.73
Secretory-burst half duration (min)	10.6 ± 2.3^a	7.3 ± 2.0	12.5 ± 1.2	0.05
Mean inter-burst interval (min)	53 ± 4^b	63 ± 7	81 ± 4	0.001
Burst mass (nmol/liter)	260 ± 38	260 ± 39	214 ± 18	0.89
Basal secretion (nmol/liter · 24 h)	1610 ± 620	710 ± 270	360 ± 60	0.43
Pulsatile secretion (nmol/liter · 24 h)	7550 ± 1270^c	6390 ± 1240	3720 ± 240	0.01
Total secretion (nmol/liter · 24 h)	9160 ± 1615^d	7780 ± 1160	4125 ± 240	0.004
Percentage pulsatile secretion	85 ± 4	77 ± 5.0^e	91 ± 1.0	0.048

Results are expressed as the mean ± sem. Comparison between groups was done with one-way ANOVA, followed post hoc by Tukey’s HSD test to contrast means. Derived measures were transformed logarithmically before analysis to limit dispersion of variance.

P values of primary adrenal Cushing’s syndrome vs. controls:

0.002;

0.001;

0.04;

0.005.

P = 0.038 vs. controls. No significant differences were found between pituitary-dependent and primary-adrenal hypercortisolism.