Endocrine Abstracts

Hypertension affects 20-60% of people with type 2 diabetes and people with hypertension are more than twice as likely to develop diabetes. Together, hypertension and diabetes are potent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Resistance to insulin-mediated glucose uptake and dysfunction(s) of the vascular endothelial monolayer are important pathophysiological features of both conditions which are associated with obesity and accelerated atherosclerosis. In recent years, it has...

BackgroundPatients with Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD) are known to have an excess risk of vascular disease. Previous work has shown an increase in their arterial stiffness. The effect of GH on blood pressure is still unclear.Materials and Methods16 patients with GHD (6 males) and no history of existing vascular disease or hypertension, between the ages of 18 and 65 were recruited (mean 45.4 plus/minus 3.5 y...

Hypopituitary patients receiving conventional hormonal therapy, excluding Growth Hormone, have an increased risk of vascular mortality. Significant endothelial dysfunction with impaired aortic distensibility has been demonstrated in these patients with some improvement in arterial stiffness after GH therapy. Inflammation is central in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and C-reactive protein is a validated marker for predicting cardiovascular risk.Fo...

Prescription rates for HRT in women with type 2 diabetes are low. One reason for this is concern about adverse metabolic effects although evidence on this is limited. We report results from a 3-month randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial of 1mg 17-beta oestradiol combined with 0.5 mg norethisterone acetate in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes. The study has full local ethics committee approval.29 subjects entered the study; 1 taking ...

Prescription rates for HRT in women with type 2 diabetes are low. One reason for this is concern about adverse metabolic effects although evidence on this is limited. We report results from a 3-month randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial of 1mg 17-beta oestradiol combined with 0.5 mg norethisterone acetate in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes. The study has full local ethics committee approval.29 subjects entered the study; 1 taking ...

Elevated circulating concentrations of non-esterified free fatty acids (NEFAs) are observed in states of insulin resistance and may be associated with increased cardiovascular risk. We hypothesised that NEFAs directly impair endothelial NO bioavailability via increased oxidative stress, in addition to their proposed indirect effect via VLDL. The study was designed to investigate the effect of monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids on endothelium-dependent and -independent v...

Background Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects between 5-10% of premenopausal women and is characterised by insulin resistance. PCOS also carries with it an increased lifetime risk of diabetes, hypertension and possibly coronary heart disease. The underlying mechanisms are unknown but we have proposed that metabolic insulin resistance may be associated with endothelial dysfunction, leading to increased vascular stiffness, abnormalities of fibrinolysis and increased platel...