ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Adrenal Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1598685
This article is part of the Research TopicComorbidities of adrenal-related endocrine disordersView all 10 articles
High Prevalence but Low Referral rate of Adrenal Incidentalomas in a Lebanese Tertiary Hospital
Provisionally accepted
Isabelle Jambart1
Anne-Marie Wakim2Nadine Cheaib2Christelle Lahoud2
Maryam Mansour2Carla Bou Issa2Charbel Daoud2Lina Menassa Moussa2
Marie-Hélène GANNAGE-YARED2
Nada El Ghorayeb2*- 1Hopital Louis Pradel, Lyon, France
- 2Hôtel-Dieu de France, Beirut, Lebanon
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Adrenal incidentalomas (AI) are being more frequently reported with the advent of medical imaging. Studies on their prevalence, characteristics and functional status are lacking in the Middle East.To determine the prevalence of AI as well as their clinical and radiological characteristics and referral rates to endocrinologists for hormonal testing.We prospectively evaluated unselected adult patients who underwent an abdominal computed tomography (CT) between November 2022 and June 2023 at a Lebanese tertiary teaching hospital.An experienced radiologist carefully reviewed 4,464 CT. Patients with known or suspected malignancy or adrenal disease were excluded. Main outcome measures included prevalence of AI and referral rates to endocrinologists during a one-year follow-up.3168 CT were retained for analysis, 222 had an AI, with an overall prevalence of 7%. There was no significant difference in prevalence according to gender (8% in women, 6% in men p = .06.).The prevalence increased with age from 0.9% in young adults (18-30 years) to 10.8% in patients older than 70. Mean age of patients with AI was 69 ± 14 years. 46% were males. Median size of AI was 1.7 cm (1.2-2.5). 45 % had a density <10 Hounsfield Unit (HU) and 17% were bilateral.Patients with an AI were significantly older (p <.0001), had a higher Body mass index (BMI) (p = .0021), more hypertension (p = .023), dyslipidemia (p = .002), and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) (p = .0056). No difference according to sex was noted. The referral rate of AI to endocrinologists was only 5.4%.The prevalence of AI in Lebanon is comparable to the worldwide prevalence and is linked to age, BMI, hypertension, dyslipidemia and CVD but not to gender. Despite this high prevalence, the rate of referral for appropriate investigations is poor. Raising awareness among clinicians is therefore essential for a better evaluation of these patients.
Keywords: Adrenal incidentaloma, Lebanon, Radiological characteristics, Prevalence, Referral
Received: 23 Mar 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jambart, Wakim, Cheaib, Lahoud, Mansour, Bou Issa, Daoud, Menassa Moussa, GANNAGE-YARED and El Ghorayeb. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nada El Ghorayeb, Hôtel-Dieu de France, Beirut, 166830, Lebanon
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