Fertility and pregnancy in adrenal insufficiency

Abstract

Despite the availability of adrenal hormone replacement therapy, patients with adrenal insufficiency can be affected by reduced fertility and parity. Patients with well managed adrenal insufficiency are expected to have uneventful pregnancies and favourable outcomes, but an increased risk of maternal and neonatal complications have been reported in some cases. Many physiological changes occur to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during pregnancy, often making a new diagnosis and management of adrenal insufficiency challenging. The management of adrenal insufficiency also needs to reflect the physiologic changes of pregnancy, often requiring increased doses of glucocorticoid as pregnancy progresses and in some circumstances mineralocorticoid replacement (in primary adrenal insufficiency patients only), especially in the third trimester. To date, there are no prospective data guiding management of adrenal insufficiency in pregnancy. In this review, we focus on the impact of adrenal insufficiency on fertility and parity based on the aetiology of adrenal insufficiency and provide a practical approach to the management of patients with adrenal insufficiency before and during pregnancy.