Impact of hypercortisolism on skeletal muscle mass and adipose tissue mass in patients with adrenal adenomas

Summary Context Abdominal visceral adiposity and central sarcopenia are markers of increased cardiovascular risk and mortality. Objective To assess whether central sarcopenia and adiposity can serve as a marker of disease severity in patients with adrenal adenomas and glucocorticoid secretory autonomy. Design Retrospective cohort study. Patients Twenty‐five patients with overt Cushing's syndrome (CS), 48 patients with mild autonomous cortisol excess (MACE) and 32 patients with a nonfunctioning adrenal tumour (NFAT) were included. Methods Medical records were reviewed, and body composition measurements (visceral fat [VAT], subcutaneous fat [SAT], visceral/total fat [V/T], visceral/subcutaneous [V/S] and total abdominal muscle mass) were calculated based on abdominal computed tomography (CT). Results In patients with overt CS, when compared to patients with NFAT, the V/T fat and the V/S ratio were increased by 0.08 (P