Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Opioid analgesics are commonly used for chronic non-cancer pain but may impair gonadal and adrenal axis function. We measured pituitary function, rates of hormone deficiency, sexual function and quality of life (QoL) in patients on oral or transdermal opioids versus age and sex-matched controls.Methods: Participants with chronic non-malignant pain receiving oral or transdermal opioids for more than six m...

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a condition characterised by raised intracranial pressure (ICP) that primarily affects obese women of reproductive age. The aetiology is poorly understood but involves imbalance of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) secretion and absorption. IIH patients share similar phenotypic characteristics to PCOS patients, a condition with a distinct androgen signature. We hypothesise that obesity and androgen excess maybe...

Background: Urinary concentrations of the major progesterone metabolite pregnanediol glucuronide (P3G) are used clinically and in research to monitor ovulation. This ELISA is laborious and costly. If it could be replaced by the automated sensitive chemiluminescence assays routinely used for serum this would be of great value.Objective: We aimed to determine the validity of urine progesterone as measured by two widely used automated assays in comparison t...

Background: The third generation thyrotropin receptor antibodies (TRAb) assay has high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing Graves’ disease (GD). Circulating levels of TRAbs predict the disease course of Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) and remission rates in GD. However, the relationship between TRAb and thyroxine (FT4) and the factors affecting their interaction are unclear.Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted to evalua...

Introduction: We offer patients needing glucocorticoid replacement in primary and secondary adrenal insufficiency the choice of either once daily prednisolone or thrice daily hydrocortisone. A recent European study found no difference between prednisolone and hydrocortisone users in several markers, including glucose, weight, body mass index (BMI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure and waist circumference, although they did suggest an increase in cholesterol and low densit...

Background: Opioid analgesics are commonly used for chronic non-cancer pain but may impair gonadal and adrenal axis function. We measured pituitary function, rates of hormone deficiency, sexual function and quality of life (QoL) in patients on oral or transdermal opioids versus age and sex-matched controls.Methods: Participants with chronic non-malignant pain receiving oral or transdermal opioids for more than six m...

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a condition characterised by raised intracranial pressure (ICP) that primarily affects obese women of reproductive age. The aetiology is poorly understood but involves imbalance of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) secretion and absorption. IIH patients share similar phenotypic characteristics to PCOS patients, a condition with a distinct androgen signature. We hypothesise that obesity and androgen excess maybe...

Background: Urinary concentrations of the major progesterone metabolite pregnanediol glucuronide (P3G) are used clinically and in research to monitor ovulation. This ELISA is laborious and costly. If it could be replaced by the automated sensitive chemiluminescence assays routinely used for serum this would be of great value.Objective: We aimed to determine the validity of urine progesterone as measured by two widely used automated assays in comparison t...

Background: The third generation thyrotropin receptor antibodies (TRAb) assay has high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing Graves’ disease (GD). Circulating levels of TRAbs predict the disease course of Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) and remission rates in GD. However, the relationship between TRAb and thyroxine (FT4) and the factors affecting their interaction are unclear.Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted to evalua...

A 41 year-old male was referred urgently from secondary care with high suspicion of Cushing’s syndrome. His past medical history included psychosis and bipolar disorder, previous low impact foot fractures, rib fractures on coughing and spinal wedge fractures on X-ray, all within the last 5 years. He was taking quetiapine 300 mg modified-release and amitriptyline 10 mg daily, and tramadol 50 mg as needed. The patient reported decreasing mobility with increasing back pain, ...