Adrenal incidentaloma: Do patients with apparently nonfunctioning mass or autonomous cortisol secretion have similar or different clinical and metabolic features?

Objective Although there is growing evidence associating nonfunctioning adrenal incidentalomas (NFAI) with cardiovascular risk factors, there are limited data whether NFAI and autonomous cortisol secretion (ACS) groups have similar or different clinical and metabolic features. The aim of this study is to compare cardiometabolic clinic parameters among patients with ACS and NFAI, as well as controls. Design Cross‐sectional study. Patients Eighty nine NFAI, 58 ACS and 64 controls were evaluated. Measurements Diagnosis of NFAI (1 mg dexamethasone suppression test [1 mg‐DST] ≤50 nmol/L [≤1.8 μg/dl]) and ACS (1 mg‐DST > 50 nmol/L [> 1.8 μg/dl]) was established according to current guidelines. The control group was selected based on a normal adrenal imaging exam. Results There were no differences between groups regarding age, gender, ethnicity, menopause or body mass index. Patients with adrenal incidentaloma presented higher frequency of hypertension (74.1 vs. 57.8%; p = .02), resistant hypertension (45.4 vs. 9.4%; p