Endocrine Abstracts

Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) forms an important component of fracture risk assessment. The objective of the report is to enable confident management by the non-expert recipient. A good report summarises the relevant information, provides a clear clinical interpretation and may also provide detailed management recommendations or refer to agreed management protocols. It needs to achieve a balance between over-simplification and inclusion of unnecessary detail.<p cl...

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Two to three percent of the UK population are prescribed glucocorticoid (GC) therapy and their adverse effects are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Suppression of the hypothalamo-pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis with the potential risk of adrenal crisis is a recognised complication of therapy. There are significant clinical challenges, not only recognition and diagnosis of the condition, but also in terms of management. There is no doubt that the prevalenc...

Thyrotoxicosis is a common disorder affecting up to 3% of the UK population and Graves’ disease is the most common aetiology. Clinically relevant thyroid eye disease is present in 25–50% of patients with Graves’ disease causing significant disfigurement and morbidity in 5–10% of patients. At the onset of ophthalmopathy, 80–90% of patients have hyperthyroidism, with the rest having euthyroidism or hypothyroidism. Risk factors for development of eye comp...

Optimal treatment of hypothyroidism is usually anticipated to require a daily dose of 1.6–1.8 μg/kg (body weight)/day of levothyroxine (L-T4) in order to restore the TSH within the normal range. Patients who require significantly larger doses of L-T4 than anticipated, e.g., >2 μg/kg body weight of L-T4/day with a persistently elevated TSH warrant further investigation. Biological c...