Effect of a 14-day course of systemic corticosteroids on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Table 2 Baseline cortisol concentration, cortisol concentration after stimulation with 1 μg corticotropin and clinical data of all 9 patients and all 6 clinical visits.

Patient Nr.	Laboratory and clinical parameters	Clinical visits
		V0	V1	V2	V3	V4	V5
1	Cortisol basal*	552	255	264	689	NA	543
	Cortisol stimulated*	887	572	467	803	NA	770
	Clinical score	6	4	0	0	NA	40
2	Cortisol basal*	162	153	112	53.2	53.1	36.8
	Cortisol stimulated*	603	582	355	277	368	401
	Clinical score	48	36	31	36	24	42
3	Cortisol basal*	439	156	69.2	149	261	416
	Cortisol stimulated*	753	448	101	238	448	566
	Clinical score	60	33	17	16	11	5
4	Cortisol basal*	404	66.6	121	157	352	373
	Cortisol stimulated*	608	422	451	405	671	587
	Clinical score	28	61	66	52	71	68
5	Cortisol basal*	392	200	112	461	385	409
	Cortisol stimulated*	584	453	298	553	600	610
	Clinical score	0	6	3	4	6	6
6	Cortisol basal*	462	82.6	50.1	365	319	299
	Cortisol stimulated*	726	429	233	427	468	557
	Clinical score	34	24	31	16	25	28
7	Cortisol basal*	750	332	27.0	121	629	229
	Cortisol stimulated*	730	496	46.5	273	752	415
	Clinical score	66	36	32	28	62	30
8	Cortisol basal*	458	204	115	411	354	136
	Cortisol stimulated*	689	452	282	501	615	365
	Clinical score	6	0	6	4	2	2
9	Cortisol basal*	353	275	331	394	490	490
	Cortisol stimulated*	712	498	637	512	664	746
	Clinical score	42	44	8	14	22	24

ISSN: 1471-2466