Endocrine Abstracts

Patients with chronic adrenal insufficiency (Addison’s) have mildly but significantly increased mortality from cardiovascular, malignant, and infectious diseases, predominantly pneumonia (Bergthorsdottir et al. 2006). Death from adrenal crisis is rare and largely preventable, but life-threatening adrenal crisis is a regular event in treated Addison’s with a previously reported annual incidence of 8% in the UK.We analysed the frequency of...

Primary adrenal insufficiency is a relatively rare endocrine condition requiring life-long glucocorticoid and mineralcorticoid replacement therapy. Unlike other endocrine conditions - such as diabetes - complications associated with early mortality are unusual and well-medicated patients can expect to have a normal life span. Nevertheless, patients typically report a variety of symptoms which reduce their quality of life.Data from an international survey...

Background: Osteoporosis leads to significant morbidity and disability through an increased susceptibility to fracture. Post-menopausal females are a high-risk group. A fracture liaison service model has been proposed as a method to maximise initiation of treatment for secondary prevention following a fragility fracture.Aim: To compare practice in two fracture units to guidelines contained in the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) Technolo...

Background: The aldosterone to renin ratio (ARR) is a useful screening test for primary aldosteronism. Renin can be measured as activity or concentration; the accuracy of the ARR depends on these measurements and the factors that may affect them. We carried out two studies; the first assessed the correlation between plasma renin concentration (PRC) and renin activity (PRA) and the agreement between them using two anticoagulants (EDTA and lithium heparin). The second evaluated ...