Table 1.

Effects on cardiovascular risk factors of cortisol administration (200 mg/day) for 5 days in normotensive healthy men

Parameter	n	Control	Cortisol	p
Plasma cortisol (nmol/L)	33	402 ± 21	1045 ± 73	<0.001
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	33	117 ± 1	129 ± 1	<0.001
Body weight (kg)	8	70.4 ± 2.8	71.4 ± 2.8	<0.001
Fasting plasma glucose (mmol/L)	46	4.1 ± 0.1	5.0 ± 0.2	<0.001
Plasma insulin (mU/L	11	16 ± 2.1	22.8 ± 2.1	0.05
HOMA	11	1.25 ± 0.18	1.44 ± 0.14	ns
Plasma cholesterol (mmol/L)	10	4.3 ± 0.3	4.3 ± 0.3	ns
HDL (mmol/L)	10	1.1 ± 0.1	1.3 ± 0.1	ns
LDL (mmol/L)	10	2.7 ± 0.3	2.6 ± 0.3	ns
Plasma triglycerides (mmol/L)	10	1.2 ± 0.9	1.1 ± 0.5	ns
Plasma homocysteine (μmol/L)	6	9.32 ± 0.87	9.72 ± 0.85	ns
Plasma urate (mmol/L)	6	0.37 ± 0.03	0.28 ± 0.01	0.015
Plasma vitamin C (μmol/L)	6	29.0 ± 6.7	27.0 ± 4.7	ns
Plasma vitamin E (μmol/L)	6	24.0 ± 0.7	21.2 ± 2.1	ns
Plasma t-PA (ng/ml)	6	8.6 ± 0.7	7.4 ± 0.8	0.025
Plasma PA-1 (ng/ml)	8	6.2 ± 1.3	3.6 ± 1.3	ns
Corrected serum calcium (mmol/L)	8	2.33 ± 0.02	2.32 ± 0.01	ns

NOTE: Results shown as mean ± s.e.m.

Abbreviations: n, number of subjects; HOMA, homeostasis model assessment score; HDL, high density lipoproteins; LDL, low density lipoproteins; ns, nonsignificant; t-PA, tissue plasminogen activator; PA-1, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1