Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The UK Newborn Screening Programme Centre Clinical Referral Standards and Guidelines for CHT (2013) define TSH cut-offs for screen positive (>20 mU/l) and borderline (>10 and <20 mU/l) results. In Manchester levels >8 and <20 mU/l are classified as borderline. This audit aims to assess whether adopting the national cut-off would result in babies with significant and permanent hypothyroid disease being missed.Patient popula...

Background: The diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is based on a combination of clinical suspicion supported by growth hormone stimulation testing. IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 are used as supportive markers. Reports over the last decade have examined the performance of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 in the diagnosis of GHD. It is important that each unit evaluates the utility of these markers in the assay used by their laboratory based on relevant normative data.Aim:...

Background: The 3 day human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) test is commonly performed to investigate male undervirilisation. However, the utility of routine HCG testing for male undervirilisation in early childhood and correlation with pubertal progress is unclear.Aims: To review performance of the 3 day HCG test for diagnosis and outcomes.Methods: Standard 3 day HCG test data were analysed in 130 boys of age <3 years with under...

Background: Harrington et al.1 suggest that basal LH of ≥0.3 IU/l as measured by ICMA (Immulite 2500) has 100% specificity and 90.5% sensitivity in identifying progressive central precocious puberty (CPP).Aims: To examine the utility of basal LH measured with the DELFIA assay for identifying CPP in girls.Methods: All girls under age 9 years (median 7.3 years) investigated for precocious puberty with a GnRH...

Background: Childhood obesity is increasingly associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Metformin reduces the risk for T2D in adult obese non-diabetic patients, but the evidence in obese children and young people (CYP) is inconclusive.Design: The metformin in obese children and adolescents (MOCA) trial was a prospective, multi-centre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 1.5 g metformin daily in CYP with raised fasting or post-prandial insu...

Background and objective: Childhood obesity is associated with reduced insulin sensitivity and increased risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D). The objective of the MOCA trial was to investigate the effect of metformin in severely obese children and adolescents.Design and Methods: In a six month multi-centre randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial metformin (1.5 g daily) or placebo was given to children and adolescents (8–18 years) with insulin r...