Elevated prevalence of abnormal glucose metabolism in patients with primary aldosteronism: a meta-analysis

To conduct a meta-analysis of studies assessing abnormal glucose metabolism (AGM) prevalence among patients with primary aldosteronism (PA), calculating a combined pooled prevalence and summarizing metabolic parameters associated the pooled prevalence for comparative group.

Four electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, and ISI-Web of Science) were systematically retrieved with no language and time restriction. Studies about elevated level of glucose metabolism in primary aldosteronism were included.

Data were available in 16 studies. The pooled analysis revealed that the prevalence of elevated glucose in PA was 22.41 % (95 % CI 16.77-28.05 %), the retrospectively calculated prevalence was 31.20 % (95 % CI 15.81-46.60 %) for impaired fasting glucose, 26.19 % (95 % CI 15.17-37.21 %) for impaired glucose tolerance, 15.22 % (95 % CI 9.93-20.51 %) for diabetes mellitus. Prevalence of AGM in PA was higher than that in essential hypertension (OR = 1.55, 95 % CI 1.01-2.36, p = 0.04). From comparative groups, patients with primary aldosteronism had a lower level of insulin sensitivity indicators in comparison with normal group (p < 0.01). On the other hand, insulin resistance which presented by HOMA index was stronger in PA group than in normal control group (WMD = 0.41, 95 % CI 0.17, 0.65; p = 0.001), whereas it was weaker than that in EH group (WMD = -0.37, 95 % CI -0.62, -0.13; p = 0.003).

There is a significant prevalence of elevated level of glucose metabolism in patients with PA. Awareness and treatment of this pre-diabetic or diabetic state are necessary.