Adrenal disorders in pregnancy.

Adrenal disorders may manifest during pregnancy de novo, or before pregnancy undiagnosed or diagnosed and treated. Adrenal disorders may present as hormonal hypofunction or hyperfunction, or with mass effects or other nonendocrine effects. Pregnancy presents special problems in the evaluation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in addition to the usual considerations. The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis undergoes major changes during pregnancy. Nevertheless, the common adrenal disorders are associated with morbidity during pregnancy and their management is more complicated. A high index of suspicion must be maintained for these disorders lest they go unrecognized and untreated.