Davida Kruger, MSN, APN-C, BC-ADM

Articles by Davida Kruger, MSN, APN-C, BC-ADM

Experts discuss potential barriers to screening for hypercortisolism in primary care and specialty settings, ways to address these barriers, when a patient should be referred to endocrinology after screening, and how primary care clinicians and specialists can collaborate effectively to identify, screen, and refer patients with hypercortisolism to optimize patient care.

Experts discuss the role of primary care clinicians in identifying and screening patients for hypercortisolism, how hypercortisolism affects mental health and how primary care clinicians can identify at-risk patients, and how hypercortisolism contributes to osteoporosis and an increased risk of fractures.

Experts discuss how hypercortisolism contributes to treatment-resistant hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases, the impact of treating hypercortisolism on cardiovascular risks, when cardiologists should suspect hypercortisolism as a contributing factor to cardiovascular disease, the role of hypercortisolism in type 2 diabetes, how it complicates the management of type 2 diabetes and impacts long-term glucose control, and when endocrinologists should suspect hypercortisolism in their patients with type 2 diabetes.

Experts discuss how the clinical presentation of hypercortisolism differs in the primary care vs specialist setting, highlighting earlier signs/symptoms vs overt disease, and review recent data on the prevalence of hypercortisolism, including its higher occurrence in patients with difficult-to-control diabetes, difficult-to-control hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Experts discuss how hypercortisolism affects health care utilization and costs for patients, comparing it with patients with other chronic diseases, and how our understanding of the clinical presentation of hypercortisolism has evolved, distinguishing overt hallmark symptoms from nonspecific features overlapping with chronic disease.

Experts discuss the challenges of identifying and diagnosing hypercortisolism, the reasons behind its often-delayed diagnosis, the impact of a wide spectrum of clinical signs and symptoms on clinicians’ ability to diagnose the condition, and recent data on the prevalence of hypercortisolism in at-risk populations, including those with difficult-to-control diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.