Endocrine Abstracts

Hyperthyroidism due to Graves’ disease (GD) is traditionally managed in the secondary care ambulatory setting. Conventionally patients are required to attend for regular review at 4–12 weekly intervals, presenting practical difficulties for many adults. Nurse-led Telephone Consultations are gaining momentum in the care of long-term conditions. This Service Development Project (SDP) addressed whether or not a specialist nurse delivered telephone consultation could be ...

Background: A variety of thyroid antibody assays are used in the diagnosis of auto-immune thyroid disease (AITD). Commonly both thyroid peroxidase (TPOab) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TGab) are measured but the added value of testing two markers has not been established.Method: We retrospectively collected clinical and laboratory data on 500 consecutive patients who had thyroid autoantibodies requested from a specialist endocrine department of a tertiar...

Case history: A 26-year-old lady presented with a two-week history of weakness associated with pins and needles affecting the lateral calf and dorsomedial aspect of her left foot. The patient denied any trauma or symptoms including weight loss. She had no drug allergies and was taking no regular medications. She had a vegan diet supplemented with multivitamins. Her past medical and family history was unremarkable. On examination, she had a narrow-based high-steppage-gait. Lowe...

Background: Tertiary adrenal insufficiency (TAI) is a complication of long-term exogenous steroid use which results in suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The short synacthen test (SST) is used to assess HPA axis function and recovery during glucocorticoid weaning. This study examined the effect of steroid preparation, dosage and therapy duration on HPA axis suppression.Method: A retrospective analysis of 950 SSTs performed betw...

Background: Adolescence is a challenging time for people with type 1 diabetes (T1DM), associated with worsening glycaemia and disengagement with care. Educational interventions often focus on imparting diabetes-specific skills rather than attending to some of the broader psychosocial challenges young people commonly experience. To address this, we codesigned a psychosocially modelled programme of diabetes education, named ‘Youth Empowerment Skills’ (YES), with young ...