Primary adrenal insufficiency in adults: 150 years after Addison

Abstract

Thomas Addison first described, 150 years ago, a clinical syndrome characterized by salt-wasting and skin hyperpigmentation, associated with a destruction of the adrenal gland. Even today, over a century after Addison's report, primary adrenal insufficiency can present as a life-threatening condition, since it frequently goes unrecognized in its early stages. In the 1850s, tuberculous adrenalitis was present in the majority of patients, but nowadays, autoimmune Addison's disease is the most common cause of primary adrenal insufficiency. In the present report, we show the prevalence of different etiologies, clinical manifestations and laboratorial findings, including the adrenal cortex autoantibody, and 21-hydroxylase antibody in a Brazilian series of patients with primary adrenal insufficiency followed at Divisão de Endocrinologia da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) and at Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto-USP (FMRP-USP).