Endocrine Abstracts

Since the 1990’s, eight survey studies have demonstrated iodine deficiency during pregnancy across the UK and Ireland. Both countries lack an iodine fortification programme, unlike many European countries. Therefore, women must rely on dietary adjustments and supplementation to achieve the iodine intake required in pregnancy. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends an increase from 150 to 250 µg/day during pregnancy. Pregnant women in Belfast were recruited to...

Northern Ireland was one of the first participating sites for the UK screening programme for congenital hypothyroidism (CHT) started 40 years ago. This study aimed to explore any changing patterns in incidence over time. Enrolment in the programme has remained high throughout the 40 years (> 98%). The cut-off value for neonatal thyroid stimulating hormone (nTSH) on day 5-8 of life reduced in ~1995 from 10 mU/l to 8 mU/l to improve sensitivity and specificity. There was a s...

Anonymised therapeutic data has been available for all patients in NI across 364 general practices since 2008. The database records age, gender, trusts and postcodes, which allows for spatial deprivation analyses. Patients were categorised in deciles (1-most deprived, 10-least) according to published criteria. We examined carbimazole (CBZ) and propylthiouracil (PTU) prescriptions over 10 years (2010 to 2019). Patients treated definitively with surgery/radioiodine are invariabl...

Cow’s milk remains a key source of iodine in the UK. However, there are concerns around the environmental impact of methane emissions from dairy cattle. Initial work suggests that adding certain seaweed species to the diet of cows can reduce enteric methane emissions and may increase the content of certain minerals such as iodine in milk. Little is known about the simultaneous effect of this feeding practice on milk organoleptic characteristics. This study investigates th...