[Cortisol and adipocyte indicators in exogenous-constitutional obesity]

The authors examined 64 patients with exogenous-constitutional adiposity, aged from 17 to 61 years (27 men and 37 women). The indices of the cortisol content were compared, depending on the patients' age, the degree of adiposity, heredity, and duration of the disease; the dependence and the correlation between cortisol and adipocyte morphology were ascertained. The blood cortisol content proved to depend on the patient's age and the degree of adiposity. Thus, in young patients its content was elevated; with the advance of age and increase of body weight the mean cortisol indices decreased. There was found a direct relationship between the cell size and the adiposity degree. Simultaneously marked increase of the cortisol content and marked adipocyte hypertrophy were found in individual patients. There was no increase of the cortisol content in case of normal adipocyte size. However, there was no distinct correlation between the cortisol content, the size and number of adipocytes. As the doby weight decreased the adipocyte size reduction was recorded in obese patients; some of them developed activization of the glucocorticoid function of the adrenal glands.