Endocrine Abstracts

Objectives: Patients with diabetes have longer and more complicated hospital stays than non-diabetic patients. The 2001 UK National Service Framework (NSF) recommends that the management of these patients should be supplemented by diabetes nurse specialists (DNS). This study aimed to audit the implementation of this recommendation, how it can be targeted and the impact it has on patient care.Study design and setting: One month long cross-sectional study ...

Background: Life expectancy of cancer survivors has doubled in the past four decades; however, death due to cardiovascular disease is more prevalent in survivors than the general population.Objective, design and methods: We evaluated novel and traditional cardiometabolic risk factors in young male cancer survivors in a cross-sectional study of male cancer survivors aged 25–45 years compared with age-matched non-cancer controls. Demographic and anthr...

Background: There is lack of consensus in the management of pituitary apoplexy. Following the 11th Clinicopathological Pituitary Conference at the RCP (2009), a multidisciplinary group produced evidence-based guidelines for management of apoplexy. A patient with apoplexy and significant neuro-ophthalmic signs or reduced level of consciousness will usually undergo surgical decompression. It is unclear what defines a significant neuro-ophthalmic deficit. There is no objective to...

Background: Treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in childhood focuses on growth and development; however the relationship of childhood treatment with adult health outcomes is not established. We explored this by examining relationships between final height (FH) and cardiometabolic risk in CAH adults.Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 65 men (80% salt wasting (SW) and 20% non-SW) and 134 women (74% SW and 26% non-SW), aged 18–69 years....

Background: Treatment of CAH in childhood focuses on growth and development; however the impact of final height (FH) on adult health is not known. We examined the relationship between FH, adiposity, cardiometabolic risk and quality of life (QoL) in a cohort of adult patients.Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 199 adults with CAH. FH, waist circumference (WC) and QoL were expressed as z-scores adjusted for mid-parental target height (FHTH<...

Background: Quality of life (QoL) has been variously reported as normal or impaired in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) adults. We found impaired QoL in UK CAH adults and now report the relationship between QoL, glucocorticoid treatment and health outcomes in these patients.Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 151 CAH adults with 21-hydroxylase deficiency aged 18–69 years in whom QoL (SF-36), glucocorticoid regimen, anthropometric, and metabolic...

Total pancreatectomy for chronic pancreatic pain is often deferred because it leaves the patient with unstable insulin-dependent diabetes. NICE (2008) has recently approved pancreatectomy with simultaneous islet autotransplantation and we here describe our first case. A 49-year-old female with a 6-year history of intractable, opioid requiring abdominal pain had become depressed to the point of suicide attempts. Imaging showed pancreatic atrophy and duct irregularity (subsequen...

In congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency a genotype-phenotype correlation exists for paediatric cohorts, helping to predict the severity of disease expression. Data on the correlation in adults is lacking. Here we report the genetic analysis of the UK CaHASE cohort, comprising CAH adults seen at 17 endocrine tertiary care centres. CYP21A2 mutation analysis was performed in 153 patients (median age 35 (range 18–69) yrs; 103 f, 50 m) by multi...

Introduction: Primary hypogonadism (PHG, testosterone <10.5 nmol/l and LH >9.5 U/l) without a recognisable cause affects ~2% of community-dwelling middle-aged and older men. We sought to identify the clinical significance of, and risk factors for, this apparently age-related hypogonadal state.Methods/design: The European Male Ageing Study (EMAS) is a prospective observational cohort survey of 3.369 community-dwelling men aged 40–79 in eight ...

Inadequate dietary iodine intake is the most common cause of preventable mental impairment worldwide and is defined by the WHO as a population median urinary iodine (UI) excretion <100 μg/l. No contemporary data are available for the UK according to the ICCIDD. The UK has no programme of food/salt iodination.We have performed a systematic assessment of the current UK iodine status in 14–15 years old schoolgirls. Seven hundred and eighty-fiv...