Managing congenital adrenal hyperplasia requires shared decisions among patients, families, and healthcare providers

The Endocrine Society today issued a Clinical Practice Guideline that offers best practices for healthcare providers on how to promptly diagnose, treat, and manage patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), an inherited endocrine disorder, throughout their entire lives.

The guideline, titled “Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Due to Steroid 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline,” was published online and will appear in the October 2018 print issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), a publication of the Endocrine Society. This is an update of the Society’s 2010 Guideline, to reflect newer published data and prospects of advances in diagnosis and treatments. The guideline emphasizes shared decision making among CAH patients, their families, and healthcare professionals when it comes to the medical, surgical, and psychological management of the disorder.<p<> </p<>

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is an inherited genetic disorder in which the adrenal glands, which make essential hormones for body functions, do not function properly. Classic CAH, which is common enough that it is screened shortly after birth in many countries, may cause life-threatening episodes of shock due to salt-wasting and dehydration. Female infants are usually diagnosed at birth because they have ambiguous genitalia (external sex organs that resemble male genitals). However, they still have normal internal female organs (ovaries and uterus). A male infant with classic CAH usually appears normal at birth, although he may show signs of early puberty.

Non-classic CAH is a milder and more common form of the disorder that may not appear until childhood or adulthood. Symptoms can include early pubic hair growth and acne, masculine characteristics, and infertility. With proper care, people with either type of CAH can live long and healthy lives.

“The management of CAH requires a multi-disciplinary team of experienced healthcare personnel who integrate the endocrine, genetic, gyneco-urologic, reproductive, and mental health aspects of care,” said Phyllis W. Speiser, M.D., of the Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, Northwell Health, and the Zucker Hofstra School of Medicine in New York. Speiser chaired the writing committee that developed the guideline. “Our new guideline stresses the importance of shared decision making between healthcare professionals, patients, and their families when it comes to treatment and the need for ongoing care.”

Recommendations from the guideline include:

• All newborn screening programs should incorporate screening for CAH, and infants with positive screens should be referred to pediatric endocrinologists.
• Prenatal therapy for CAH should be avoided (except as part of ethically-approved protocols) due to incompletely defined postnatal risks.
• Healthcare professionals should inform all parents of pediatric patients with CAH (particularly girls with ambiguous genitalia) about surgical options, including delaying surgery until the child is older.
• All surgical decisions for minors should be the prerogative of families (i.e., parents with assent from older children) in joint decision making with experienced surgical consultants.
• Adolescents with CAH should start the transition to adult care several years prior to dismissal from pediatric endocrinology to ensure continuation of care throughout their entire life.
• Growing individuals with classic CAH should receive maintenance therapy with hydrocortisone and should avoid chronic use of more potent or long-acting glucocorticoids, which can have adverse side effects.
• Patients with CAH (and parents of minors) should seek mental health treatment to address any CAH-related psychosocial problems.

Other members of the Endocrine Society writing committee that developed this guideline include: Wiebke Arlt of the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, U.K.; Richard J. Auchus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Laurence S. Baskin of the University of California San Francisco and UCFS Benioff Children Hospital in San Francisco, Calif.; Gerard S. Conway of the University College London Hospitals in London, U.K.; Deborah P. Merke of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center and The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, M.d.; Heino F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, New York, N.Y.; Walter L. Miller of the University of California San Francisco and UCFS Benioff Children Hospital; M. Hassan Murad of the Mayo Clinic Evidence-based Practice Center in Rochester, Minn.; Sharon E. Oberfield of  Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian in New York, N.Y.; and Perrin C. White of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.

The Society established the Clinical Practice Guideline Program to provide endocrinologists and other clinicians with evidence-based recommendations in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of endocrine-related conditions. Each guideline is created by a writing committee of topic-related experts in the field. Writing committees rely on evidence-based reviews of the literature in the development of guideline recommendations. The Endocrine Society does not solicit or accept corporate support for its guidelines. All Clinical Practice Guidelines are supported entirely by Society funds.

The Clinical Practice Guideline was co-sponsored by the CARES Foundation, European Society of Endocrinology, European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology, Societies for Pediatric Urology, and Pediatric Endocrine Society.

About Endocrine Society

Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world’s oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses, and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at www.endocrine.org. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia.