Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Conflicting findings have been published regarding the pressure wave reflection and the arterial stiffness in young women with PCOS as opposed to the overt ab initio presence of endothelial dysfunction compared with controls which can be reversed six months after metformin administration. The aim of this study was to investigate arterial stiffness and wave reflections in young women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with respects to the different weight...

Introduction: Delayed diagnosis of a cardiovascular event is related with higher case-fatality rate in women as compared to men. In fact, accumulating evidence supports an association between the menopausal status and the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We aimed to assess the extent of subclinical vascular disorders in young, healthy postmenopausal women, with respect to the calculated cardiovascular risk.Methods: This cross-sectional study ...

Objectives: Glucocorticoids may affect cardiovascular risk. Polymorphisms in the glucocorticoid receptor (GlucR) gene have been associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. We investigated whether the common Bcl1 polymorphism of the GlucR gene (associated with increased sensitivity to glucocorticoids) may be associated with early markers of atherosclerosis.Methods: Two hundred and fourteen middle aged apparently healthy subjects (age &#8230...

Introduction-aim: It has been suggested that estrogen may play an important role in the regulation of endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in both sexes. Especially in men, estradiol administration has been shown to improve endothelial function; however such reports are conflicting. The aim of our study was to examine the relation of endogenous sex hormone levels with markers of early atherosclerosis in a cohort of apparently healthy individuals.Methods:...

Background: Incidentally discovered adrenal adenomas (AA) are associated with increased prevalence of hypertension, obesity, and impaired glucose tolerance, all established risk factors for cardiovascular (CV) morbidity. However, most studies were performed in patients with AA and autonomous cortsisol and/or aldosterone secretion, whereas the presence of cardiovascular risk in patients with non-secreting AA has not been looked into detail.Methods: Cardio...

Objective: Thyroid function tests (TFTs) have been associated with obesity; however associations with the type of adiposity have not been examined. Ultrasound (U/S) was used to assess regional adiposity in euthyroid individuals. Associations of thyroid function with obesity parameters and presence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) were investigated.Methods: Of 302 apparently healthy slightly overweight individuals (age 42.9±8.8, BMI 19.0–43.3, med...

Objective: The association of SHBG levels with obesity, hyperinsulinemia and metabolic abnormalities is well recognized in both men and women. Recent data suggest that SHBG levels are an important predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Several methods have been used for the measurement of adiposity including ultrasonography (U/S) which is a reliable and low-cost method. We used U/S to assess regional adiposity and investigated possible associations with SHBG levels.</...

Introduction: Although data on the association of primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) with cardiovascular disease are accumulating, there is still controversy on this issue. Moreover, possible associations of aortic stiffness and central aortic pressures with pHPT and associated effective molecules have not been addressed.Methods: Seventy patients with pHPT were consecutively recruited from the outpatients’ clinic of an academic department of endocri...

Objective: Androgen may be detrimental in the development of cardiovascular disease in women. We investigated possible associations between the (TAAAA)n polymorphism of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) gene promoter, which influences transcriptional efficiency of the SHBG gene and thus the tissue androgen availability and early markers of atherosclerosis in apparently healthy women.Design and methods: In this prospective clinical study, 153 con...

Background: Subclinical Cushing’s syndrome (SCS) due to incidentally discovered adrenal adenomas (AI) has been associated with increased prevalence of hypertension, obesity, and impaired glucose tolerance which are established risk factors for cardiovascular morbidity. Although functional and morphological (structural) changes of endothelium have been correlated with cardiovascular morbidity this has not been looked into detail in patients with adrenal incidentalomas....