An observational study in Primary Aldosteronism and Hypertension, sponsored by Medical University of Gdansk. Recruiting at 1 site in Poland. Open to participants aged 40 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-10-02.
Sponsored by Medical University of Gdansk · Observational
The goal of this observational study is to learn whether screening for primary aldosteronism can be improved among patients on chronic blood pressure-lowering medications by ordering intake of 1 mg of dexamethasone prior to hormonal examinations.
Primary aldosteronism is a condition, in which an adrenal gland steroid aldosterone is released in excessive amounts; it commonly causes hypertension but requires specific therapy different from usually prescribed in other forms of hypertension.
Dexamethasone is a synthetic steroid used for both therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. A single 1 mg dexamethasone dose taken at 11 p.m. in order to measure hormone concentrations the following morning (so called overnight 1-mg dexamethasone test) is a commonly applied test in the work-up of adrenal disorders.
The main question the project aims to answer is:
Can screening for primary aldosteronism be improved among patients receiving blood pressure-lowering medications with overnight 1-mg dexamethasone intake?
Participants will undergo changes in their chronic medication to be able to definitely rule out or confirm primary aldosteronism in blood hormonal examinations. These modifications and modifications are not part of the research project.
For this project participants will be asked to
Background Primary aldosteronism (PA) underlies or contributes to hypertension (HT) in up to 30% of patients. In the last two decades PA has been demonstrated to encompass mild forms, which do not meet established diagnostic criteria, yet are still clinically relevant. However, PA has been shown to be vastly underdiagnosed: less than 5% of patients from at-risk populations undergo screening.
One of the main reasons for low PA screening prevalence is the recommendation of hypotensive therapy modification prior to hormonal assessment, i.e. withdrawal of medications interfering in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) (2016 Endocrine Society guideline, 2020 European Society of Hypertension consensus statement). On the other hand, in many instances, PA may be diagnosed despite treatment with RAAS-interfering drugs.
Previous research showed efficacy in the diagnostic approach toward PA can be greatly improved by incorporating adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) suppression. This was achieved by determining PA screening and confirmatory thresholds following a 2-day 2-mg/day dexamethasone (DXM) test. Patients diagnosed with PA by meeting these novel diagnostic criteria responded well to mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists.
These two diagnostic approaches (work-up in patients receiving RAAS-interfering drugs along with ACTH suppression) have not been combined so far.
Aim To generate and temporally validate PA screening thresholds (aldosterone-to-renin ratio, ARR, and aldosterone, Ald) among patients with HT receiving medications interfering in the RAAS by applying overnight ACTH suppression.
Methodology The project received the consent of the local bioethics committee. A development cohort of n=80, and a confirmation cohort of n=80, amount to 240 participants total due to an expected withdrawal rate of 33%. Study participants will be enrolled in a single, tertiary-care endocrine hospital in one-day clinic setting among hypertensive patients undergoing hormonal examinations due to the presence of an adrenocortical lesion with radiological features of an adenoma or hyperplasia (ACA or AHA, respectively). Only patients with indications for further PA testing upon a positive, permissive ARR will be recruited for participation in the study. Further diagnostic procedures (both in the course of this research and clinically-indicated) will be conducted in an outpatient endocrine clinic. Exclusion criteria include non-viability for RAAS-interfering medication modification.
Basal (1) ARR will be required for inclusion, while in the course of the project participants will undergo ARR measurements post-DXM on own (chronic) medications (2), pre- and post-DXM ARR upon partial modification of RAAS-interfering medications (3 and 4), and pre- and post-DXM upon temporary withdrawal of RAAS-interfering medications (5 and 6). An oral salt loading test, OSLT (one of established confirmatory PA tests), will be performed off interfering medications in all patients. Also, patients with a positive PA screening result will undergo either seated saline-infusion (SIT) and/or captopril challenge test (CCT) to confirm PA in a one-day clinic. Results of these confirmatory tests will be used as reference in determining sensitivity and specificity of PA screening thresholds on RAAS-interfering therapy regimens.
Statistical analysis will be performed upon gathering clinical and hormonal data to determine thresholds for ARR, aldosterone and renin to suggest optimal (simple but more accurate than currently applied) PA screening criteria.
Expected results The hypotheses of the project are
The objective of the study is demonstrating that ARR measurement following overnight 1-mg DXM intake reduces the equivocal rate in interpreting the ARR measurement in PA screening compared to conventional ARR.
201 studies on the registry are indexed under Hyperaldosteronism; 93 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 240 is above the median of 200 across 103 observational studies indexed under Hyperaldosteronism.
Browse Hyperaldosteronism studies →Medical University of Gdansk is the lead sponsor of 133 studies on the registry; 46 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
ULN (upper limit of normal)
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraception
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
BMI (body mass index)
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Autoimmune disease
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Data from the first half of participants data will be used to generate post-DXM ARR (and possibly Ald) thresholds, which will be subsequently temporally validated in the confirmatory cohort.
Post-DXM ARR thresholds will be applied among participants of the confirmatory cohort, however, these will also undergo the medication withdrawal, OSLT, and other PA confirmatory tests if indicated.
Overall diagnostic accuracy of post-DXM ARR
percentage of correctly categorized patients with hypertension on RAAS-interfering medications as either with clear or unclear PA screening threshold base on post-DXM ARR determination
Time frame: 24 months
Association between post-DXM ARR and 24-h urinary aldosteronuria in the oral salt loading test
Post-DXM ARRs on different medications will be investigated for correlations or other associations with urinary aldosteronuria in the OSLT.
Time frame: 24 months
Plan to share: No — IRB approval and participant consent do not cover sharing IPD outside the scope of the study.
Started Oct 2024 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for May 2026, 19 months after the start.
Of 64 non-industry observational studies under Hyperaldosteronism, half reached primary completion within 75 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 32 and three quarters within 96. This study's planned 19 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 64 studies reached it within 75 months; a quarter within 32 and three quarters within 96.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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