Cushing’s syndrome screening with the 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test in metabolically healthy and unhealthy obesity phenotypes

Abstract

Background The ongoing debate regarding the need for screening Cushing’s syndrome (CS) in patients with obesity continues. The objectives of this study were to establish the prevalence of CS in the population with obesity and assess how metabolic health status influences cortisol levels following the 1 mg dexamethasone suppression test (DST). Methods This retrospective study included 1008 patients with obesity who underwent screening with the 1 mg DST for CS. These patients were categorized into two groups as metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) and unhealthy obesity (MUO). Results Out of the 1008 patients, 779 (77.3%) belonged to the MUO group. Within the entire study cohort, 12 (1.2%) patients exhibited a cortisol level of ≥ 1.8 after the 1 mg DST. Cortisol levels following the 1 mg DST were also significantly higher in the MUO group than in the MHO group (p = 0.001). Among these 12 patients, 11 were presenting a MUO phenotype. Hypercortisolism was definitively diagnosed in two patients, resulting in an overall prevalence of 0.2%. The 1 mg DST demonstrated a specificity of 99% and 100% sensitivity for screening for CS. Conclusions While the 1 mg DST is a practical screening test for CS with high specificity in obesity, the number of CS cases detected remains relatively low. Therefore, it may be more reasonable and applicable to screen patients with MUO phenotype rather than all individuals with obesity.