Table 2.

SST1, SST2 and SST3 represent the sequential order (i.e. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd) of the low dose short Synacthen test being performed during the follow‐up of hypocortisolic patients. Wilcoxon signed ranked test on 30 min F between SST1 and SST2 revealed a statistically significant improvement in stimulated serum cortisols over time (P < 0·001). (Abbrev: F is serum cortisol, UFC is urinary free cortisol, NR is normal range, while n is the number of patients)

Patient	p.ACTH (pmol/l) (NR: 2–11)	24 h UFC (nmol/day) (NR: 59–413)	SST1: F (nmol/l) n = 21		SST2: F (nmol/l) n = 21		SST3: F (nmol/l) n = 8
			0 min	30 min	0 min	30 min	0 min	30 min
1	4·3	42	108	174	170	582	–	–
2	11·6	160	259	307	253	504	Default	–
3	16·9	106	368	391	322	588	–	–
4	3·0	118	58	207	269	649	–	–
5	4·6	Not done	214	279	188	485	Default	–
6	2·9	200	159	244	216	720	–	–
7	2·3	Not done	254	272	213	586	–	–
8	18·7	56	90	443	106	469	Default	–
9	3·7	150	225	262	251	708	–	–
10	3·2	Not done	146	273	190	528	Default	–
11	3·9	128	104	133	220	579	–	–
12	6·1	173	279	299	519	760	–	–
13	6·1	Not done	181	189	268	652	–	–
14	2·3	73	201	384	274	363	223	537
15	7·4	24	90	205	171	483	526	575
16	6·4	84	191	225	174	310	131	662
17	2·0	102	93	117	167	234	196	676
18	3·9	139	201	222	262	299	108	554
19	7·3	76	280	322	441	455	565	750
20	4·6	13	165	240	226	309	182	678
21	16·9	133	130	151	294	305	185	255