Miguel Debono, a Maltese consultant in endocrinology and diabetes in the UK, has obtained a prestigious grant from the National Institute for Health Research to assess the use of a new test to identify patients who suffer from a condition known as adrenal insufficiency.

The grant of a quarter of a million pounds (€290,000) will fund the study that aims to implement the test as part of everyday clinical care throughout the UK. It is estimated that the test will save the NHS around £10 million (€11.6 m) every year.

Dr Debono, Honorary Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and the University of Sheffield, achieved top place, outperforming 13 other major centres in the UK in a highly competitive funding call.

The doctor is a lead specialist in the stress steroid hormone cortisol. Over recent years, he has established himself as a worldwide expert in the area. He has been invited to deliver presentations at both national and international conferences and has published seminal research studies in major endocrinology journals.

Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is when the body is unable to produce cortisol, an essential hormone for overcoming stress, including illness and injury. Left untreated, the body can no longer regulate blood sugar, control blood pressure or reduce inflammation, increasing the risk of emergency admission, cardiac arrest and possibly death.

AI is currently diagnosed in hospital by a laborious test involving taking blood to measure cortisol before and 30 minutes after an injection. Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis are common.

The aim of Dr Debono’s research is to provide a patient friendly, more convenient, cheaper salivary test to replace the use of the complex tests for the majority of patients.