Endocrine Abstracts

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is an important part of diabetes management but only provides a snapshot view of the blood sugar at that point in time. Technology such as Freestyle Libre and Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) provides blood glucose readings and trends whilst omitting the more traditional method of multiple daily blood testing, and they have been reported in clinical trials to reduce hypoglycaemia, and improve blood sugar management day to day...

Ongoing patient engagement and education are vital in establishing successful self-management, long-term glycaemic management and a complication-free future for people with diabetes. Today’s healthcare requires engaging the current generations where approximately 71% of adults go online everyday, and an additional 11% go online three to five times per week. One in three young people currently use social media in their daily lives. Social media has brought about a major ch...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is an autosomal recessive condition which leads to glucocorticoid deficiency. During childhood, aims of treatment are to prevent adrenal crisis and to achieve optimal adult height and normal puberty. In adults, aims of treatment are to prevent adrenal crisis, ensure normal fertility and avoid long-term consequences of glucocorticoid use. Current regimens with glucocorticoids cannot optimally replicate the normal physiological cortisol level...

Background: The Freestyle Flash glucose monitoring (Flash GM) is a new technology suitable for children and adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). Clinical accuracy, safety and user acceptability of the Flash GM has been demonstrated in a recent study. In 2017 the UK Association of children’s diabetes clinicians (ACDC) launched national guidelines for training healthcare professionals in delivering Flash GM to children with T1DM.Objective...

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) allows continuous real-time blood glucose monitoring and informs users of blood glucose trend data and alarms which warn users of high or low blood glucose readings. Current evidence suggests that CGM can reduce episodes of hypoglycaemia in conditions such as congenital hyperinsulinism and metabolic disorders. Hypoglycaemia secondary to these conditions is serious with almost 50% of children demonstrating neurological impairments as a result...

The use of digital technology to improve accessibility and efficiency of services has been recognised and telemedicine has been increasing over recent years, particularly for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes. The onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic rapidly accelerated the use of virtual consultations into everyday practice. The aim of this study was to assess feedback from paediatric diabetes patients and their parents regarding virtual consultations. The st...

Background: In type 1 diabetes (T1D), optimal glycaemic control requires intensive self-management to reduce the risk of complications. While routine downloading and review of blood glucose data is part of clinical practice of healthcare providers in an outpatient setting, patients and families are also educated, advised and encouraged to regularly download and review blood glucose data at home in order to make adjustments to insulin dosing for carbohydrate intake and insulin ...

Introduction: It is essential that children and young people with diabetes are supported to manage their diabetes effectively to prevent the development of early complications. However, the common clinical challenge is difficultly in engaging adolescents and young people to achieve good glycaemic control in their diabetes management. Solution Focus Therapy (SFBT) has been found to be especially beneficial with children, adolescents and teenagers because it is a brief model tra...

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is an important part of diabetes management. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) provides real-time measurement of users’ glucose levels. The advantage of CGM is the availability of constant information about glucose levels which helps to predict hyper and hypoglycaemia and to adjust the insulin doses accordingly. NICE guidelines recommend that children and young people with type 1 diabetes and persistent problems with hypoglycaemia...

Background: Previous studies have reported that increased BMI and increase in insulin requirement are associated with more rapid disease progression following diagnosis in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The recent UK National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA) 2013/14 reported that 37% of 0–11 year old children and 44% of 12 years and older children are currently overweight or obese.Objective: Our objective was to evaluate factors associated with in...