Endocrine Abstracts

Pregnancy is associated with changes in both size and function of the pituitary gland. Thus diagnosing pituitary dysfunction during pregnancy can be challenging. For women with a pre-existing adenoma, there is limited evidence regarding safety in pregnancy for medical therapies used to control hormonal excess. Management includes optimisation of hormonal function and close monitoring for signs of tumour progression. Most women can be managed conservati...

Rates of among women of reproductive age are rising such that 1 in 5 women in the UK are obese at antenatal booking. Female obesity is associated with reduced fertility including ovulatory dysfunction and increased time to pregnancy. Obese pregnancy is associated with increased pregnancy loss and stillbirth, and with increased risk of major pregnancy complications including gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. In addition there are short and long-term complications for the o...

Rates of among women of reproductive age are rising such that 1 in 5 women in the UK are obese at antenatal booking. Female obesity is associated with reduced fertility including ovulatory dysfunction and increased time to pregnancy. Obese pregnancy is associated with increased pregnancy loss and stillbirth, and with increased risk of major pregnancy complications including gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. In addition there are short and long-term complications for the o...

Primary hyperparathyroidism in pregnancy is rare, with a reported incidence of 1%. It is often asymptomatic with the majority of cases in case-series identified incidentally. Published case series report dramatic maternal complications including nephrolithiasis, pancreatitis, hyperemesis gravidarum, pre-eclampsia and hypercalcaemic crises with fetal complications including intrauterine growth restriction, preterm delivery and neonatal hypocalcaemic tetany. Severity of complica...

One in five women in the UK is obese (BMI >30 kg/m2) at antenatal booking. Maternal obesity is associated with complications for the mother including increased risk of developing gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia and need for caesarean section. For the offspring short term complications include risk of macrosomia and need for admission to the neonatal unit. It is now apparent that the effects of maternal obesity for the offspring extend beyond the neonatal per...

The developing fetus adapts to an adverse in utero environment, and is ‘programmed’ to an increased risk of developing disease in later life. Fetal growth is regulated via a complex interplay between mother, placenta and fetus. Maternal nutrients, transported via the placenta, are essential for fetal growth. Conversely, the placenta may also respond to fetal endocrine signals to regulate maternal metabolism. The placenta also regulates fetal growth via production and...

Children &Young people (CYP) with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) have increased rates of depression, anxiety, psychological distress and eating disorders than their healthy peers. Psychological factors and the patient’s health beliefs are important determinants of self-care behaviour. Randomised control trials have confirmed that Psychological interventions can significantly lead to improvement in measures of psychological well-being. Routine psychological support is advocate...

Gestational Diabetes (GDM) complicates 3–5% of all UK pregnancies but prevalence is increasing with rising rates of maternal obesity. Adaptions to the GDM screening protocol within NHS Lothian in August 2016 to screen high-risk women including women with obesity (BMI≥30 kg/m2) during early pregnancy (approximately 10 weeks gestation) allowed us to test the hypothesis that early screening of obese pregnant women would be associated with improved maternal a...

Epigenetic dysregulation may be one mechanism underpinning the link between early life conditions and later cardiometabolic risk. In animal models, environmental manipulations including modified maternal diet change DNA methylation and offspring phenotype. Manipulations altering the epigenetic state reverse the phenotype suggesting causality. We have previously reported higher blood pressure (BP) and cortisol in an adult cohort whose mothers were advised to eat a high-protein,...

Obesity in pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of complications for mother and child. Epigenetic modifications have been proposed as an important underlying mechanism. As the placenta plays a key role in fetal nutrition and metabolism we hypothesized there would be placental DNA methylation differences between lean and obese placenta. DNA methylation array (Human Methylation 450K) was performed on placentas from n=31 obese (BMI&...