Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Children and Young People (CYP) with diabetes are encouraged to attend four clinics each year.(1,2) During the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns regarding risk of virus transmission, reduced staff numbers and social distancing requirements, meant the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CAVUHB) paediatric diabetes service had to find alternative ways to communicate with patients. This included video consultations and drive-through HbA1c clinics as a substitute for s...

Background: During the pandemic, children and young people (CYP) have been in social isolation and faced many changes to their normal routine. Limited research has been done to understand how CYP with diabetes have been affected.Objective: The objective of this study was to understand how CYP with diabetes have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Questionnaires were produced which included both quantitative and qualitat...

Introduction: Prader Willi syndrome (PWS) is a complex neurodevelopmental genetic condition which is characterised by hyperphagia, endocrine dysfunction, behavioural and psychiatric issues. Current literature recommends a multi-disciplinary approach to PWS management to tackle its multi-faceted manifestations. No previous study has examined the views and satisfaction levels relating to the services provided for children with PWS in Wales.Methods: Semi-st...

Introduction: Children on long-term steroid replacement for adrenal insufficiency may need emergency administration of i.m. hydrocortisone when unwell. There was a recent incident in Wales in terms of the out of hospital administration of hydrocortisone by ambulance crew. A child on long-term hydrocortisone for hypopituitarism became unwell at school. When the ambulance crew attended, it was brought to our attention that they cannot administer i.m. hydrocortisone unless the un...

A preterm baby was born at 23 weeks + 2 days gestation. She was managed on our tertiary care neonatal unit and remained ventilated for most of her stay. During her admission, she had recurrent episodes of clinically suspected NEC which were medically managed. Her feeds were discontinued on numerous occasions due to bilious aspirates, vomiting and abdominal distention. Given the patient’s clinical condition, a contrast study of the gastrointestinal tract was done using an enteral iodina...

Introduction: Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) or ‘pump’, therapy is used for intensification of insulin therapy. NICE guideline 2008 recommends CSII as an option for adults / children 12 years or older with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), when multiple daily injection (MDI) insulin therapy results in disabling hypoglycaemia/fails to reduce HbA1c levels below 8.5%, and for children below 12 years whenever MDI is impractical or inappropriate...

Introduction: Stuve–Wiedemann Syndrome (SWS) is a rare genetic condition with autosomal recessive inheritance characterized by the association of typical facial appearances, skeletal manifestations including bowed legs and dysautonomia. Only two patients with long survival have been reported in 2001. We report three children whose periodic clinical evolution could be observed in our hospital until the age of 9 years. We report a case of SWS with associate...

Background: Infants presenting with life threatening hyponatraemia and hyperkalaemia present a diagnostic conundrum that can reflect abnormally low aldosterone production (e.g. congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), renal resistance to aldosterone associated with infected urinary tract malformations or single gene disorders also associated with failure of the kidney to respond to aldosterone (pseudohypoaldosteronism). Although incidence figures for individual c...

Background: Coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19), an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus has been linked to autoimmunity. Graves’ disease (GD) is a common subtype of paediatric hyperthyroidism and an autoimmune condition, where antibodies stimulate the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor on the thyroid gland to produce excess thyroid hormone. Although, paediatric GD is rare, incidence have risen before the pandemic, and this rise has accelerated since the Covid-19 pande...

Background: Education in diabetes is a fundamental component of self-management. Health care systems that have structured education from diagnosis have demonstrated improving trends in HbA1c. Within Wales, education for Children and Young People (CYP) was delivered informally and this deficiency was highlighted in the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit. While structured education is being delivered in some parts of the UK, there is no overarching programme covering the entire ...