Primary Aldosteronism
Primary Aldosteronism (PA), or Conn’s Disease, is characterized by autonomous hypersecretion of aldosterone either due to an aldosterone-producing adenoma or due to bilateral adrenal hyperplasia. A systematic review that included 15 studies (Velema et al. , 2017) demonstrated that untreated patients with PA showed lower physical and mental quality of life compared to the general population independent of the cause of PA. Furthermore, PA patients exhibited more psychopathologies including depressive symptoms, anxiety, agitation, and sleep problems. It is likely that overstimulation of central MR by aldosterone contributes to psychopathology in PA (Künzel, 2012). In fact, a recent study demonstrated that adrenalectomy in patients with PA normalized aldosterone secretion, which was associated with improved depressive symptoms (Murck et al. , 2021). To our knowledge, no study has specifically examined cognitive function in patients with PA versus a matched healthy control group.