Table 1.

Presenting characteristics of adult patients with pheochromocytomas, also divided into how they presented.

	All (n = 92)	Incidentaloma presentation (n = 59)	Pheo suspicion (n = 29)	P value	Screening (n = 4)	P value between all three groups
Age at diagnosis (years)	56.3 ± 16.1	59.7 ± 14.1	52.4 ± 17.6	0.037	33.3 ± 8.7	0.001*
Females (n)	47 (51%)	35 (59%)	9 (31%)	0.023	3 (75%)	0.028
Tumor size (mm)	49.0 ± 26.7	49.2 ± 24.1	51.8 ± 32.2	0.675	26.3 ± 12.5	0.141
Right-sided tumor (n)	50 (54%)	32 (54%)	16 (55%)	0.885	2 (50%)	0.981
Bilateral (n)	1 (1%)	0 (0%)	1 (3%)	0.330	0 (0%)	0.333
U-adrenaline (nmol/24 h)	119 (10–8000)	87 (10–8000)	140 (56–584)	0.321	225 (159–291)	0.452
U-noradrenaline (nmol/24 h)	858 (161–34300)	717 (161–10700)	1500 (446–8158)	0.003	536 (247–825)	0.010**
P-metanephrine (nmol/L)	0.8 (0.2–190)	0.8 (0.2–12)	2.0 (0.3–7.4)	0.051	0.8 (0.7–1.4)	0.130
P-normetanephrine (nmol/L)	5.2 (0.7–160)	5.0 (0.7–61)	15.5 (2.0–47.0)	<0.001	0.9 (0.7–1.3)	0.011*
U-A/P-MNE	2.7 (0.3–633)	2.3 (0.3–100)	3.6 (0.3–633)	0.451	3.2 (2.3–4.7)	0.721
U-NA/P-NMNE	6.0 (0.2–267)	7.3 (0.8–102)	7.3 (0.7–267)	0.007	1.8 (0.2–2.2)	0.030**
Highest hormone ratio	11.0 (1.2–633)	11.0 (1.2–102)	16.3 (1.3–633)	0.014	3.2 (3.2–4.7)	0.025*
P-CGA (nmol/L)	10.5 (2.4–367)	11.0 (2.4–170)	8.9 (4.5–367)	0.918	3.3 (2.4–4.2)	0.100
SBP (mmHg)	155 ± 30	151 ± 25	167 ± 37	0.021	126 ± 15	0.010*
DBP (mmHg)	88 ± 14	87 ± 12	92 ± 18	0.135	75 ± 7	0.051
Sustained HT (n)	60 (67%)	37 (63%)	23 (79%)	0.147	0 (0%)	0.006
Only paroxysmal HT (n)	7 (8%)	3 (5%)	4 (14%)	0.212	0 (0%)	0.295
Always normotensive (n)	25 (27%)	19 (32%)	2 (7%)	0.008	4 (100%)	<0.001
Type 2 diabetes (n)	25 (27%)	13 (22%)	12 (41%)	0.079	0 (0%)	0.073
Pre-diabetes$ (n)	16 (17%)	13 (22%)	2 (7%)	0.129	1 (25%)	0.195
Glucose abnormality (n)	41 (45%)	26 (44%)	14 (48%)	0.821	1 (25%)	0.675
Cardiovascular disease (n)	33 (36%)	20 (34%)	13 (45%)	0.355	0 (0%)	0.187

Pheo, pheochromocytoma. All patients screened due to familial syndrome had a previously known RET mutation (MEN2A). U, urinary; P, plasma. U-A/P-MNE, highest U-adrenaline or P-metanephrine level divided the upper level of normal. U-NA/P-NMNE, highest U-noradrenaline or P-normetanephrine level divided the upper level of normal. P-CGA, P-chromogranin A. Reference ranges were for urinary adrenaline and noradrenaline <80 and <400 nmol/24 h, respectively, for plasma metanephrine and normetanephrine <0.3 and <0.6 nmol/L, respectively, and for plasma chromogranin A normal <3.0 nmol/L. SBP, systolic blood pressure. DBP, diastolic blood pressure. Blood pressure before specific treatment for pheochromocytoma such as alfa-blocker. HT, hypertension. P value between the different presentation groups. Bold, P < 0.05. P value after post hoc Holm–Sidak or Dunn’s test: *Significant between all 3 groups; **Significant between incidentaloma presentation and Pheo suspicion groups. ^$Defined as fasting plasma glucose 6–6.9 mmol/L and/or a 2 h OGTT value 7.8–11 and/or a HbA1c 42–47 mmol/mol.