Table 4 End of 1 week of therapy: cortisol mean/median values in each arm

3-hour cortisol

(nmol/L)

10.35 ± 6.5

9.96 (5.2–13.8)

6.46 ± 4.2

4.87 (3.7–7.8)

5.52 ± 2.0

6.18 (3.0–7.1)

-

6-hour cortisol

(nmol/L)

5.78 ± 4.1

4.18 (3.8–6.9)

3.40 ± 1.8

3.02 (1.9–4.5)

3.67 ± 1.5

3.44 (2.3–4.9)

-

12-hour cortisol

(nmol/L)

3.26 ± 2.1

2.45 (1.9–4.7)

2.49 ± 1.5

2.01 (1.5–3.0)

2.90 ± 1.6

2.54 (1.5–4.3)

-

Diurnal slope

(Ln nmol/L/hr)

-0.12 ± 0.10

-0.10 ± 0.05

-0.08 ± 0.06

F = 0.35, p = 0.71

Cortisol AUCg

(nmol.hr/L)

51.3 ± 22.9

44.0 (34.5–75.3)

34.8 ± 16.4

28.5 (25.0–48.6)

34.4 ± 8.3

35.2 (26.1–41.6)

-

Ln cortisol AUCg

(Ln nmol.hr/L)

3.85 ± 0.39

3.44 ± 0.45

3.49 ± 0.28

F = 1.56, p = 0.24