Associated Conditions of Cushing's syndrome

About associated conditions: Associated conditions are those which appear statistically related, but do not have a clear cause or effect relationship. Whereas the complications are caused by Cushing's syndrome, and underlying causes may be causes of Cushing's syndrome, the following list shows associated conditions that simply appear with higher frequency in people who have Cushing's syndrome. In some cases, there may be overlap between this list and risk factors for Cushing's syndrome. People with Cushing's syndrome may be more likely to get a condition on the list of associated conditions, or the reverse may be true, or both. Whether they are causes of, caused by, or simply coincidentally related to Cushing's syndrome is not always clear. For general information, see Associated Condition Misdiagnosis.

Associated conditions list: The list of conditions mentioned by various sources as associated with Cushing's syndrome includes:

PCOS
Metabolic Syndrome
High blood pressure
Insulin resistance
IGT
Diabetes
High cholesterol
High triglycerides (type of High Cholesterol)
Weight gain
Overweight
Obesity

Associated conditions: Sometimes other conditions may be associated with many of the symptoms of Cushing's syndrome. These include polycystic ovarian syndrome, which may cause menstrual disturbances, weight gain from adolescence, excess hair growth and sometimes impaired insulin action and diabetes. Commonly, weight gain, high blood pressure and abnormal levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood are associated with resistance to insulin action and diabetes; this has been described as the "Metabolic Syndrome-X." Patients with these disorders do not have abnormally elevated cortisol levels. ¹

Footnotes:
1. excerpt from Cushing's Syndrome: NIDDK

Last revision: May 26, 2003

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