This work is licensed under a Table 2.
Reported characteristics of adrenal insufficiency patients under the care of the responding physicians.
| Patients’ characteristics | SSAe (n = 2885) | MENAe (n = 2902) | P-valuef | Total (%, 95% CI) | P-valueg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Causes of hypoadrenalism | |||||
| Bilateral adrenalectomy | 239 (8.3) | 75 (2.6) | <0.001 | 314 (5.4, 4.9–6.0) | <0.001d |
| ACTH deficiency disease | 595 (20.6) | 680 (23.4) | 0.010 | 1275 (22.0, 21.0–23.1) | <0.001d |
| Long term steroid use | 577 (20.0) | 1319 (45.4) | <0.001 | 1896 (32.8, 31.6–34.0) | <0.001d |
| Primary adrenal insufficiency | 1474 (51.1) | 828 (28.5) | <0.001 | 2302 (39.8, 38.5–41.0) | |
| Age and sex distribution of primary adrenal insufficiency | |||||
| Sex (females)a | 779 (52.8) | 379 (45.8) | 0.001 | 1158 (50.3, 48.2–52.4) | |
| Age 0–15 | 101 (6.8) | 41 (5.0) | 0.069 | 142 (6.2, 5.2–7.2) | <0.001 |
| Age 16–60 | 1 235 (83.8) | 539 (65.1) | <0.001 | 1774 (77.1, 75.2–78.8) | Reference |
| Age >60 | 138 (9.4) | 248 (30.0) | <0.001 | 386 (16.7, 15.3–18.4) | <0.001 |
| Aetiology of primary adrenal insufficiencyb | |||||
| Autoimmune | 294 (20.0) | 499 (60.3) | <0.001 | 793 (34.4, 32.5–36.4) | Reference |
| Tuberculosis | 501 (34.0) | 34 (4.1) | <0.001 | 535 (23.2, 21.5–25.0) | <0.001 |
| ALD and genetic disorders | 74 (6.9) | 32 (3.9) | 0.003 | 106 (4.6, 3.8–5.5) | <0.001 |
| AIDS | 439 (29.8) | 8 (1.0) | <0.001 | 447 (19.4, 17.8–21.1) | <0.001 |
| Malignancy | 79 (5.4) | 17 (2.1) | <0.001 | 96 (4.2, 3.4–18.4) | <0.001 |
| Other | 54 (3.7) | 22 (2.7) | 0.195 | 386 (16.7, 15.3–5.1) | <0.001 |
| Auto immune associationsb | |||||
| Type 1 diabetes | 347 (23.5) | 95 (11.5) | <0.001 | 442 (19.2, 17.6–20.9) | Reference |
| Hypothyroidism | 301 (20.4) | 137 (16.6) | 0.023 | 438 (19.0, 17.4–20.7) | 0.863 |
| Graves’ disease | 67 (4.6) | 36 (4.4) | 0.826 | 103 (4.5, 3.7–5.4) | <0.001 |
| Pernicious anaemia | 123 (8.3) | 64 (7.7) | 0.604 | 187 (8.1, 7.0–9.3) | <0.001 |
| Premature ovarian insufficiency | 86 (5.8) | 57 (6.9) | 0.317 | 143 (6.2, 5.3–7.3) | <0.001 |
aGender of patients with hypoadrenalism was declared for 2002 patients in SSA and 2736 in MENA; bPercentages calculated out of patients with Addison’s disease (n = 1474 for SSA and 828 for MENA); cPercentages of common presenting features according to respondent doctors (n = 276 for SSA and 56 for MENA); dSecondary hypoadrenalism causes compared to Addison’s disease; eResults are expressed as number(percentage); fP-value: comparison of clinical characteristics of patients between SSA and MENA; gP-value: comparison of all the patients in the entire cohort.
AIDS: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; ALD: adrenoleukodystrophy; MENA: Middle East and North Africa; SSA: Sub-Saharan Africa; TB: Mycobacterium tuberculosis.