Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) in a cohort of young Mediterranean women with PCOS in reproductive age and to evaluate the association of the MS with clinical and biochemical parameters.Setting: Among 200 PCOS (17-31 years) criteria of MS in accordance with the “NCEP-ATPIII” were used to construct 3 groups: no one criteria, 1 or 2 criteria and 3 or more criteria (affected by MS). All p...

Objective: This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of non classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-NCAH) in hyperandrogenic women in the reproductive age attending our Endocrinology Unit and to identify specific phenotypic traits among clinical, biochemical and hormonal features.Setting: Outpatient Unit of Endocrinology, S. Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital of Bologna, Italy.Patients a...

Background and Objective: Severe metabolic complications generally manifest at an early age in Berardinelli – Seip congenital lipodystrophy (BSCL) and their management is especially challenging, often requiring prompt pharmacological treatment with insulin-sensitizers, lipid lowering drugs, insulin and eventually metreleptin. Nutritional intervention with low lipid personalized diets is considered by experts a fundamental tool in handling the disease when associated with ...

Background: Excess testosterone in PCOS is accompanied by increased levels of other ovarian and adrenal androgens and precursors. Recently, 11-oxygenated adrenal androgens have been postulated as major components of the circulating androgen pool in PCOS. Obesity is strictly connected with androgen excess and with the derangement of hormone circadian rhythmicity. To date, it has not been clarified whether hyperandrogenism in PCOS, either complicated by obesity or not, is accomp...

Background: Many questions concerning polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) remain unsolved, such as the long term evolution of cardiovascular (CV) risk markers and the risk for CV events.Methods: A total of 119 PCOS patients diagnosed in 2009 by NIH criteria at our Unit were evaluated at baseline for cardiovascular risk markers (hypertension, diabetes mellitus-DM, dyslipidaemia, obesity, carotid intima media thickness-cIMT, and epicardial fat thickness-EFT) ...

Background and aim: Ovarian hyperandrogenism is a known cause of post-menopausal hirsutism and virilisation, more frequently of a benign nature (e.g. ovarian hyperthecosis, Leydig cell hyperplasia). Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy delivers both definitive diagnostic and therapeutic results. However, after excluding the presence of a suspicious ovarian mass, the use of GnRH analogues (GnRH-a) offers a valuable therapeutic alternative with cases reporting a sustained response in...

Introduction: The adrenal morphology in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is poorly described in the literature, so that adrenal radiological evaluation is not recommended in patients with CAH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adrenal morphology in a large cohort of adult patients with CAH due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency and its correlation with the subtype of CAH (non-classical-NCAH, simple virilizing-SV, or salt wasting-SW), the hormonal status and the treatment...

Objective: The aim of this study was to define which hormonal cut-off values can discriminate polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) from non classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-NCAH).Patients and methods: We included 70 women in reproductive age who attended our Unit from 2003 to 2018 for a diagnosis of PCOS with a basal 17hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP) level in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle ≥200 ng/d...

Though LC-MS/MS is replacing immunoassays for major glucocorticoids and androgens routine assessment, the measurement of other sex steroids and precursors is still challenging and available only in experienced research laboratories. Our aim was to develop a simple-prep and rapid 2D-LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous measurement of estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and 17OHpregnenolone.Serum volumes of 300ul were spiked with intern...

Hyperandrogenic disorders cause psychological implication in young girls, limiting the quality of life. Salivary cortisol (SalF) testing was proved to be useful in the evaluations of acute stress responses. Aim of this study was to investigate SalF responses to a stressor event in late adolescent females. We selected 165 drug-free females aged 16–19 years from a cross-sectional epidemiological study. Saliva was collected in the morning before and after a stressor event co...