Endocrine Abstracts

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has highlighted the gap that exists between our expectations of tight metabolic control and the realities of actually achieving this, particularly during type 1 diabetes pregnancy. Longitudinal measurements indicate that despite overall ‘good’ HbA1c levels, pregnant women with type 1 diabetes spend 8 h/day with blood glucose levels above the recommended targets. New closed-loop (CL) or artificial pancreas approaches integrate insul...

One in five women in the UK is obese (BMI >30 kg/m2) at antenatal booking. Maternal obesity is associated with complications for the mother including increased risk of developing gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia and need for caesarean section. For the offspring short term complications include risk of macrosomia and need for admission to the neonatal unit. It is now apparent that the effects of maternal obesity for the offspring extend beyond the neonatal per...

Autoimmune thyroid diseases, including Graves’ disease and autoimmune thyroiditis, are common in women of childbearing age. Poorly controlled Graves’ disease is associated with an increased risk of fetal loss, premature birth, pre-eclampsia, intra-uterine growth retardation, and thyroid storm. Antithyroid drugs, propylthiouracil and carbimazole (or its metabolite methimazole), cross placenta and may cause hypothyroidism and goitre in the fetus. Carbimazole is associa...