Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Telemedicine use has increased rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, replacing many face-to-face (FTF) consultations. FTF consultations are associated with increased CO2 emissions (CO2em) from travel to clinics. This study evaluates the triple bottom line of children and young people’s (CYP) and parent or guardian experience of a new telemedicine service, estimated CO2em saving from reduced travel and cost saving to families.Methods: Dat...

Introduction: Patients with mitochondrial disease have abnormal cellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) generation that results in a broad phenotype with a diverse clinical presentation. Abnormal growth and short stature have been observed in children and adults with mitochondrial disease and we hypothesized that stature in affected individuals would reflect disease severity.Method: We extracted height, weight and molecular genetic data from the UK Mitocho...

Background: Relapse rates in young people with Graves’ disease (GD) are around 75% after 2 years of antithyroid drugs (ATD). However, there is little mechanistic insight into the pathophysiology of relapse and a lack of robust predictive biomarkers. B cell subsets and related cytokines may reflect humoral immune activity, for which T cells have an important supporting role.Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate T and B cell subpopulations, ...

Background and Aims: Relapse in Graves’ disease (GD) often occurs after antithyroid drugs (ATD) are withdrawn, however there is a lack of robust predictive biomarkers for relapse and little mechanistic insight into its pathophysiology. B-cell related cytokines and chemokines may reflect humoral immune activity and therefore be predictive of outcome. The purpose of this study was to evaluate serum B-cell activating factor (BAFF), Chemokine ligand 13 (CXCL13), A-proliferati...

Introduction: Although hCG is an important determinant of gestational thyroid function, it is unknown to what extent hCG is a risk factor for thyroid disease and we also lack knowledge on which characteristics influence the thyroidal response to hCG stimulation.Methods: hCG, TSH, FT4 and TPOAbs were measured in 5435 pregnant women (<18 weeks) in a prospective cohort. Subclinical disease entities were defined according to P2.5-P97.5 in TPOAb negative ...

Activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis, from the third trimester of pregnancy to the first post-natal months in males, results in serum concentrations of gonadotrophins and testosterone approaching adult levels. This phase, known as male mini-puberty, represents a key window of opportunity to identify congenital GnRH deficiency in early childhood.We present a case to illustrate the diagnostic efficiency of screening for mini-puberty in a ma...

Context: Preeclampsia is a leading cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide, affecting 2–8% of all pregnancies. We have previously shown that women with high-normal levels of FT4 during early pregnancy have a 2.1-fold increased risk of preeclampsia – but there was no apparent association with low TSH. However, the thyroid is stimulated by human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) during early pregnancy and therefore we hypothesized that women with h...

Background: Data remain conflicting regarding the long-term metabolic consequences of prematurity and the impact of early nutrition and catch-up growth. Adiponectin and leptin are adipocyte derived proteins (adipokines) and are thought to be important regulators of insulin action.Objectives: i) To investigate the influence of infant growth and contemporary body composition on adolescent adipokine secretion.ii) To investigate the co...

Case history: A 42-year-old female presented to the emergency department with dizziness, vomiting, abdominal pain and thirst. While investigating a 3-month history of lethargy, menstrual irregularity and weight loss, her GP had found a raised TSH, FSH and LH and had prescribed levothyroxine and, 1 week prior to admission, Adcal-D3 supplements. On examination, she was hypotensive and hyperpigmented.Investigations: Na+130 mmol/l (132–144), ...

Introduction: The BSPED UK thyrotoxicosis study has been running for 10 years. The primary objective is to assess biochemical control on block and replace (BR) and dose titration (DT) regimens. The final patient was recruited towards the end of 2011 and study will finish in 2015. We would like to describe the baseline characteristics of study patients and the initial response to anti-thyroid drug therapy (ATD).Methods: We focused on patient age, sex, BMI...