Clinical Endocrinology

OBJECTIVE: Interpreting thyroid function tests can be challenging due to inherent variation, and the need for tests rises with age. While age-related changes in thyrotropin (TSH) levels are known, the biological variation in older adults remains unclear. DESIGN: We recruited nineteen 65-99-year-old (older adults) without thyroid disease for monthly blood sampling for 1 year. PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS: Serum was stored at -20C°, and TSH, total thyroxine (TT4) and total triiodothyronine (TT3) were analysed in random order in a single batch for each participant...

DESIGN: The androgen receptor (AR) mediates peripheral effects of testosterone. Previous data suggests an association between the number of CAG repeats in exon-1 of the AR gene and AR transcriptional activity. The aim of this analysis was to determine the association between the number of AR CAG repeats and all-cause mortality in men and the influence of testosterone level on the association. PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS: Follow-up data to 27 January 2018 were available for men aged 40-79 years recruited across six countries of the European Male Aging Study between 2003 and 2005...

OBJECTIVE: The present article analyses pre-operative demographic, biochemical, sonographic and histopathological characteristics of low-risk thyroid neoplasms (LRTNs), with a focus on four subgroups, "well-differentiated carcinoma-not otherwise specified" (WDC-NOS), "non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary like nuclear features" (NIFTP), "well-differentiated tumours of uncertain malignant potential" (WDT-UMP) and "follicular tumour of uncertain malignant potential" (FT-UMP)...

OBJECTIVE: Serum Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) concentrations have been proposed as a marker of spontaneous puberty and future fertility in Turner syndrome (TS). Gonadotropins during minipuberty may also provide a clue to ovarian function but there is insufficient data to inform utility in the routine clinical management of TS. Our objective was to describe the distribution of AMH in a cross-sectional cohort of patients in a TS specialty clinic, and correlate with spontaneous puberty and karyotype, as well as gonadotropins during the minipuberty of infancy in a smaller subset of patients aged 2-9 months...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The risk of aortic dissection (AoD) is increased in women with Turner syndrome (TS) but predicting those with this heightened risk is difficult. In response to this, we sought to create a pathway to monitor TS patients to improve efficiency and resource utilisation in our dedicated TS clinic, and to monitor more closely those women thought to be at increased risk of AoD. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: Our pathway was designed based on evidence derived from International Guidelines for the management of aortic disease in women with TS...

BACKGROUND: Most patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer have low-risk disease, but some have a higher risk for persistent or recurrent disease and even death from thyroid cancer. Few studies have evaluated potential anthropometric, lifestyle, or dietary risk factors for advanced or aggressive types of thyroid cancer. METHODS: Using data from a large US cohort study, we examined associations for high-risk thyroid cancer (HRTC) and, separately, low-risk thyroid cancer (LRTC) in relation to anthropometric factors, diet, smoking, and alcohol consumption...

OBJECTIVE: Data are inconclusive regarding pregnancy complications associated with maternal chronic hypoparathyroidism. Therefore, we aimed to compare pregnancy, delivery and neonatal outcomes in patients affected by chronic hypoparathyroidism to those without chronic hypoparathyroidism. DESIGN: A retrospective population-based study utilising data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS) database over 11 years from 2004 to 2014 inclusively...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) caused by 21-hydroxylase deficiency accounts for 95% of all CAH cases and is one of the most common inborn metabolic conditions. The introduction of life-saving glucocorticoid replacement therapy 70 years ago has changed the perception of CAH from a paediatric disorder into a lifelong, chronic condition affecting patients of all age groups. Alongside health problems that can develop during the time of paediatric care, there is an emerging body of evidence suggesting an increased risk of developing co-morbidities during adult life in patients with CAH...

OBJECTIVE: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex disorder with diverse metabolic implications. Diagnosis typically relies on oligo-amenorrhoea (OA), hyperandrogenism (HA), and polycystic ovarian morphology (PCOM). However, the role of polymenorrhoea in PCOS remains understudied. Additionally, limited information exists regarding metabolic disturbances in women with partial PCOS phenotypes that do not meet diagnostic criteria. This extensive database aims to provide substantial evidence on the metabolic implications of polymenorrhoea and partial PCOS phenotypes...

Duncan et al. reviewed the response to growth hormone stimulation testing after priming in peripubertal children. The concern is that there is little research documenting the response to growth hormone treatment in patients with sex hormone primed growth hormone stimulation testing and those unprimed. The controversy about priming or not can be summarized as follows: if one wants to know if the production of growth hormone during puberty will be adequate in terms of peak growth hormone responses then stimulation with priming should be done...

OBJECTIVE: The 2015 American Thyroid Association guidelines recommend against radioiodine (RAI) ablation for patients with low-risk papillary microcarcinoma. However, its role in other low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients remains controversial. Here, we compare long-term outcomes with RAI versus no-RAI in a large cohort comprising all low-risk DTCs. METHODS: Patients with low-risk, histologically-proven DTC post-thyroidectomy, treated with RAI or kept on follow-up without RAI, between 1990 and 2019 were included...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the efficacy and safety of the 'Walk with you' application for titrating basal insulin (BI) doses in type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) hospitalised patients. METHODS: This was a randomised, single-centre, open-label, controlled clinical trial to compare the changes in fasting blood glucose (FBG) and postprandial blood glucose (PBG), time to reach target FBG (FBG-TRT), incidence of hypoglycaemia events and FBG coefficient of variation in the application group (weight-based titration of BI dose regimen) and control group (typical adjustment regimen)...

OBJECTIVE: The variability of thyroid function tests (TFTs) during antithyroid drug (ATD) therapy and its association with adverse health outcomes have not been previously studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of TFT variability and cardiovascular morbidity during ATD therapy. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS: Hyperthyroid patients (n = 394) treated with ATD therapy at Tampere University Hospital between March 2016 and December 2018 were followed up for a median time of 1...

OBJECTIVE: Hyperintensity signal in T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been related to better therapeutic response during pasireotide treatment in acromegaly. The aim of the study was to evaluate T2 MRI signal intensity and its relation with pasireotide therapeutic effectiveness in real-life clinical practice. DESIGN, PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS: Retrospective multicentre study including acromegaly patients treated with pasireotide. Adenoma T2-weighted MRI signal at diagnosis was qualitatively classified as iso-hyperintense or hypointense...

BACKGROUND: Ultrasound risk stratification can improve the care of patients with thyroid nodules by providing a structured and systematic approach for the evaluation of thyroid nodule features and thyroid cancer risk. The optimal strategies to support implementation of high quality thyroid nodule risk stratification are unknown. This study seeks to summarise strategies used to support implementation of thyroid nodule ultrasound risk stratification in practice and their effects on implementation and service outcomes...

OBJECTIVE: Cushing's syndrome is characterized by hypercortisolaemia and is frequently accompanied by comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, depression and schizophrenia. It is unclear whether moderate but lifelong hypercortisolaemia is causally associated with these diseases in the general population. We aimed to address this research gap using a Mendelian randomization approach. METHODS: We used three cortisol-associated genetic variants in the SERPINA6/SERPINA1 region as genetic instruments in a two-sample, inverse-variance-weighted Mendelian randomization analysis...

OBJECTIVE: Endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS) is a known cause of secondary osteoporosis. Vertebral fractures (VFs) in endogenous CS may occur despite normal bone mineral density (BMD). Trabecular bone score (TBS) is a relatively new, non-invasive technique to assess bone microarchitecture. The objective of our study was to analyse the BMD and bone microarchitecture using TBS in endogenous CS and compare it with a group of age and sex-matched healthy controls, and also analyse the factors predicting BMD and TBS...

OBJECTIVE: The use of parathyroid lesion aspiration in preoperative adenoma localisation is controversial. Concerns have been raised regarding both immediate safety (hematoma, infection, alterations on a subsequent histologic preparate) and long-term safety (seeding). We aimed to evaluate the short- and long-term safety, and the efficacy, of parathyroid fine-needle aspiration with parathyroid hormone washout as a localisation modality of parathyroid adenoma in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism...

OBJECTIVE: Thyroid function test abnormalities are frequent and associated with the offspring's adverse neurodevelopment. This study aimed to examine the relationship between maternal thyroid function test abnormalities before 20 gestational weeks and children's cognitive, emotional and behavioural development at 3-6 years of age. PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS: A total of 2243 mother-child pairs were included in the final analysis. Maternal thyroid function was evaluated retrospectively during the children's preschool period...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.