High incidence of cardiovascular disease and increased prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in women with hypopituitarism not receiving growth hormone treatment: preliminary results

Recently, epidemiological evidence has suggested that hypopituitarism with untreated growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is associated with a high inciden ce of cardiovascular mortality and that women are particularly at risk. In the present study, the incidence of cardiovascular disease and prevalence o f cardiovascular risk factors in 33 such women was assessed and compared wi th matched controls. A significantly higher number of diagnosed circulatory disorders occurred in the women with hypopituitarism compared with control s, and drug consumption for cardiovascular disorders was also significantly higher in this group. Furthermore, patients with hypopituitarism had a sig nificantly higher waist:hip ratio and a higher ratio of low-density lipopro tein to high-density lipoprotein than controls. Electrocardiogram data show ed that hypopituitarism was associated with more episodes of bradycardia. I n summary, women with hypopituitarism had an increased incidence of cardiov ascular disease and a less favourable risk factor profile compared with mat ched controls. The data add support to previous studies that have shown inc reased risks of cardiovascular mortality associated with hypopituitarism wi th untreated GHD. We conclude that adequate cardiovascular surveillance pro grammes are required for patients with pituitary insufficiency.