Confirmatory Testing for Primary Aldosteronism : A Study of Diagnostic Test Accuracy
An erratum to this article was published (Ann Intern Med, Aug 2026 ↗)
Authors' conclusion
The SSST is associated with a high false-negative rate, and reliance on it may lead to missed opportunities for intervention.
Study context
- Population
- Adults with a positive screening result for primary aldosteronism (PA), regional Endocrine Hypertension Clinic in Calgary, Alberta, Canadaadults with a positive screening result for PA
- Participants
- 156 adults
- Comparison
- Seated saline suppression test (SSST) against treatment response as the reference standard
- Outcome
- Post-SSST aldosterone concentrations (immunoassay)
Methodological detailsblinded assessment
- Blinded assessment
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Further findings
Discrimination between response statuses
- Area under the curve
- 62.1% [95% CI, 45.1% to 79.1%]
- The SSST could not discriminate between response statuses
Positive and negative likelihood ratios
- Equivocal for aldosterone cutoffs ranging from 140 to 300 pmol/L
Sensitivity analyses
- Findings remained consistent after differences in treatment, occurrence of hypokalemia, and laboratory assay used were accounted for
Original publication
Confirmatory Testing for Primary Aldosteronism : A Study of Diagnostic Test Accuracy. Ann Intern Med. Published 6 May 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →