Endocrine Abstracts

Graves’ disease is a common autoimmune disorder with autoimmunity against the TSH-receptor being a central pathogenetic element. The disease may present with a number of clinical manifestations, among which hyperthyroidism caused by TSH-receptor stimulating antibodies is the most prevalent. The disease is common in all adult ages and affects women 4–5 times more often than men.In many countries the preferred initial therapy of the hyperthyroidi...

Iodine is an essential part of thyroid hormones, and many processes in the thyroid gland adapt to changes in iodine supply. Still, abnormalities in iodine intake are of major importance for the occurrence of thyroid diseases. Historically, the intake of iodine from food and beverage has been low in large parts of the world. Depending on the level of insufficiency, this has been associated with disturbed reproduction, developmental brain damage, and a high occurrence of goitre ...

Osteoporosis is a debilitating condition that can be prevented by timely detection and treatment. Detection requires referral for dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) that depends on risk factors. We estimated the importance of risk factors for a T-score of <−2.5 measured by spine and hip DXA in all men and women referred from general practice for a DXA scan at Aalborg University Hospital during a 3 years period. Risk factors were assessed by questionnaire...

Background: Several studies of rather heterogeneous groups of patients have shown an increased mortality in patients with pituitary diseases. In patients without hypersecretion of growth hormone or ACTH the increased mortality has mostly been attributed to pituitary insufficiency. Some studies have suggested sex-specific differences in standard mortality rates (SMR) whereas others have shown increased cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular mortality. A recent study of patients ...

Introduction: Acromegaly is a rare disease caused by GH hypersecretion from a pituitary adenoma. However, accurate estimates of incidence and prevalence are scarce and not based on nationwide populations. It is well known that surgical cure may normalize mortality and improve morbidity but similar data are not available for patients receiving medical treatment.Method: We first validated the ICD-8 and ICD-10 diagnosis codes for acromegaly in The National ...

Both humic substances (HS) and iodine may influence the thyroid gland. Tap water is a major source of iodine intake in some areas, where iodine has been shown to be bound in HS.We investigated tap water and old subjects from two areas with and without iodine bound in HS in tap water, to assess their importance for urinary iodine excretion and for the thyroid. Analysis of tap water, measurement of iodine in urine and thyrotropin (TSH), thyroid peroxidase ...

Introduction: We questioned the justification of general recommendations for assessment of hypopituitarism in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and aimed to describe the prevalence of hypopituitarism in a national TBI population of patients admitted to a Danish hospital in 2008, as compared to healthy controls.Patients and methods: We included 463 patients (18–65 years) hospitalized ≥24 h, with more than subtle TBI as indicated by lo...

Objectives: Hypothyroid patients report a diversity of symptoms at disease presentation. We studied how useful symptoms are to predict hypothyroidism, and if this may vary between subgroups of patients.Methods: Patients newly diagnosed with overt autoimmune hypothyroidism (n=140) were prospectively identified in a population by linkage to diagnostic laboratory databases, and we concomitantly enrolled individually sex and age-region matched contr...

Introduction: Clinical symptoms in craniopharyngioma have been repeatedly described in the literature, but few studies have addressed the issue of acute-onset symptoms in children or adults. Refinements of diagnostic procedures and altered scanning routines over the last two decades may in theory have affected patterns of clinical presentation.Objective: To study the clinical phenotype of patients with newly diagnosed craniopharyngioma, with focus on var...

Background: Craniopharyngioma may be associated with severe morbidity. Few data exist on incidence rate (IR) and possible changes with time. The epidemiology of craniopharyngioma in Denmark has never been evaluated in detail.Objectives: To review the literature on craniopharyngioma incidence and to study the epidemiology of craniopharyngioma in Denmark during a recent 20-year period.Material and methods: Publications including data...