Clinical evaluation of pituitary insufficiency in adult population

This retrospective study aimed to investigate the clinical profile of pituitary insufficiency (PI) in adult population.

One hundred and fifty patients who were diagnosed as having PI between 2012 and 2018 (53.3% female, mean age 48.13 ± 15.83 years) were retrospectively analyzed.

Age at diagnosis was higher in females as compared with males (51.13 ± 15.95 vs. 44.70 ± 15.08 years, P = 0.012). The most frequent presenting signs were headache (29.4%) and visual disturbance (19.6%) in general. Females frequently presented with headache (33.3%), whereas males presented with sexual dysfunction (34.4%). The most frequent cause of PI was nonfunctional pituitary adenoma (28.8%) in general population. A frequent cause of PI was Sheehan’s syndrome (33.8%) among females and nonfunctional pituitary adenoma (38.6%) among males. Pituitary macroadenoma (75.8%) was frequent in pituitary tumors with PI. 55.3 % of the patients had 4 pituitary hormones deficiencies and 26.0% of patients had 3 pituitary hormones deficiencies. Gonadotropin deficiency was the leading pituitary hormone deficiency. The frequency of posttraumatic PI was 4.7% in the general population.

Nonfunctional pituitary adenoma was the most common cause of PI among males and Sheehan’s syndrome was a major etiologic factor in females. Sheehan’s syndrome remains an important health problem in Turkey although obstetric care has improved. Posttraumatic PI should be considered in the differential diagnosis of idiopathic PI.