Endocrine Abstracts

AimsTo define the prevalence of hyponatraemia (serum sodium <135 mmol/l) on our medical admissions unit and review the laboratory investigations, diagnosis and management of patients with critical or severe hyponatraemia (serum sodium <120 mmol/l).MethodsSerum sodium levels requested from the medical admissions unit over a six-month period were retrospectively collated. Case notes and biochemistry dat...

Background: Maternal hyperthyroidism (MH) during late pregnancy is associated with adverse neonatal outcomes but the effects of MH in early gestation when managed in a specialised joint obstetric endocrine clinic setting is unclear. Objectives: To evaluate the obstetric and neonatal outcomes of maternal hyperthyroidism presenting during early gestation. Methods: Endocrine and obstetric record of 40 pregnancies with active hyperthyroidism managed in the antenatal endocrine clin...

Peptic ulceration is associated with hypercalcaemia in a number of disease states including isolated primary hyperparathyroidism and multiple endocrine neoplasia (e.g. MEN1 syndrome where hyperparathyroidism co-exists with gastrinomas and the Zollinger Ellison Syndrome). Hypercalcaemia is also known to enhance gastrin secretion. We were therefore interested in investigating whether any association exists between serum calcium concentrations and the findings at oesophago-gastro...

A recent case series commented on adverse COVID-19 outcomes among patients with Cushing’s syndrome, despite minimal symptoms and low inflammatory markers. Excessive glucocorticoids can impede adaptive immune response to viruses, leading to increased infection risks (1). Sarker et al discussed glucocorticoids binding to viral spike-proteins, inhibiting receptor interactions and contributing to prolonged positive swabs, in the absence of symptoms (2). We report the c...

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) negatively affects renal function. It is known that chronic kidney disease is a predictor of cardiometabolic diseases. Cystatin C (cystC), an alternative measure of renal function, has been associated with adverse cardiovascular events and cardiometabolic risk factors. This study was aimed to evaluate serum cystC, its relationships with PTH and cardiometabolic risk in patients with PHPT.The following parameters were mea...

Introduction: Mechanism underlying glucose-mediated development and progression of diabetic complication are incompletely understood. Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is a hormone released by atrial myocytes in response to acute and chronic extracellular volume expansion. Moderate hyperglycaemia (>400 mg/dl) in diabetic rats is associated with an elevation in circulating ANP levels and in GFR (glomerular filtration rate), (1) and play a role in the development of microalbu...

Introduction: Anti-TSH-receptor binding antibodies can cross the placenta and can stimulate or inhibit the fetal thyroid, causing fetal and neonatal thyroid dysfunction. We test for these antibodies in all pregnant women with a history of thyroid disease using a TSH binding inhibitor immunoglobulin (TBII) assay. Our aims were to audit our management of TBII positive pregnancies and to review pregnancy outcomes.Methods: Serum TBII concentration was measur...

Background: Long standing growth hormone (GH) excess causes the skeletal clinical signs of acromegaly with typical changes in bone geometry including increased cortical bone thickness (CBT). However, a high prevalence and incidence of vertebral fractures has been reported. The aim of this study was to assess the course of cortical bone dimensions in the hip by comparing patients with acromegaly and clinically non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA) at baseline and one year a...

Introduction: Elevated levels of cortisol are known to induce a wide range of pathology, e.g. abdominal obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Measuring serum and saliva cortisol is limited to one time point. Measurement of cortisol in scalp hair is a recently developed method to measure long term cortisol levels and might reflect cortisol exposure in patients with hyper- or hypo-cortisolism and in healthy persons. Our aims were to explore this measurement of cor...

Background: Individuals born Small for Gestational age (SGA) are at high risk of development of type 2 diabetes. Growth hormone (GH) therapy can also adversely affect glucose metabolism.Aim: To explore the factors associated with changes in insulin sensitivity (IS) and insulin secretion during one year of GH treatment in children born SGA.Methods: In the NESGAS clinical trial, we studied 82 (55♂) pre-pubertal children (age 3....