Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Levothyroxine replacement for hypothyroidism is safe and effective but may be associated with reduced quality of life and serious adverse effects if administered inappropriately. We set out to investigate if thyroid hormone profiles in hospitalised patients on levothyroxine are similar to those in inpatients without pre-existing thyroid dysfunction.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in patients admitted for non-endocrine reasons to...

A prolonged course of antithyroid drugs (ATD) is commonly used as first line treatment in patients with hyperthyroidism, although long term cure rates are poor – 40–50%. We performed a longitudinal analysis of outcomes in patients treated with a complete course of ATD and identified factors predicting remission.583 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed hyperthyroidism presenting between 2005 and 2014 and treated with ATD for a minimum of 6 ...

Obesity is a global heath concern and the proportion of overweight and obese people in the UK is rapidly increasing. Patients undergoing treatment for hyperthyroidism frequently express concerns regarding excessive weight gain especially when offered treatment with 131I. We followed 1159 patients with overt hyperthyroidism to determine the extent of weight changes and to identify risk factors for weight gain following treatment. Overall, BMI remained unchanged in 13...

The administration of radioactive iodine (131I) is widely used in the treatment of patients with hyperthyroidism. We have previously reported better cure rates in patients receiving a single dose of 600 MBq 131I compared with those treated with lower doses. We set out to evaluate if baseline patient characteristics predict which patients require multiple doses of radioiodine to induce cure. We compared 42 subjects requiring ≥3 doses with 290 patient...

Objectives: Hyperthyroidism affects up to 3% of the population and is associated with arrhythmias, which predispose to myocardial infarction, stroke and pulmonary embolism. Multiple studies indicate that all-cause and cardiovascular mortality are higher in patients with hyperthyroidism compared to the general population. However, associations between treatment modalities for hyperthyroidism and long-term health outcomes remain unclear. This study aims to analyse the literature...

Background: Hyperthyroidism often runs an indolent course and may be undiagnosed for prolonged periods. Most patients are treated in the outpatient setting and the effects of hyperthyroidism on hospitalised patients are poorly studied. We set out to determine the prevalence of hyperthyroidism in a large cohort of inpatients and evaluated their comorbidities, reasons for hospitalisation and rehospitalisation rates.Methods: A case-control study was conduct...

Routine thyroid function testing (TFT) in hospitalised patients is not recommended; however, delayed management of thyroid dysfunction may have significant consequences. We quantified the rate of TFT in hospitalised patients and identified factors influencing the likelihood of finding significantly abnormal TSH (<0.01 or >10 mUI). TFTs were performed during 26 937/280 000 (9.6%) admissions between 2007 and 2011. 57.6% of those tested were female and mean age was 63.8 (...

Thyroid dysfunction is common and the clinical presentation of subjects with abnormal thyroid hormone concentrations varies widely. Whilst acute illness may affect the interpretation of thyroid function tests, delaying diagnosis and treatment of thyroid dysfunction may have significant consequences. We set out to determine the likelihood of thyroid function testing and the factors influencing the probability of serum TSH measurement in hospitalised patients with a recorded dia...

Obesity is a global health concern and the proportion of overweight and obese people in the UK is rapidly increasing. Patients undergoing treatment for hyperthyroidism frequently express concerns regarding excessive weight gain, especially when offered treatment with I-131. We investigated 1047 patients with overt hyperthyroidism to determine the extent of weight changes and to identify risk factors for weight gain following treatment. Overall, 727 (69.4%) patients gained &#88...

Hyperthyroidism is known to result in excess all-cause and circulatory mortality. We set out to identify which factors predict mortality in 1290 patients (1019 females and 271 males) with overt hyperthyroidism and determined if treatment with antithyroid drugs or radioactive iodine (131I) affect outcome. All individuals were aged ≥40 years (median: 57.5 years) and presented to our clinic between 1989 and 2003. Cause of death was compared with age- and period s...