The Endocrine Society 101st Annual Meeting and Expo
The annual meeting of the Endocrine Society (ENDO 2019) was held from March 23 to 26 in New Orleans and attracted more than 9,000 participants from around the world, including clinicians, academicians, allied health professionals, and others interested in endocrine and metabolic disorders. The conference highlighted recent advances in the diagnosis and management of obesity, endocrine disorders, diabetes, and thyroid diseases.
In one study, Adnin Zaman, M.D., from the University of Colorado in Denver, and colleagues evaluated meal and sleep timing in patients who are overweight or obese.
The investigators found that patients who ate meals later in the day also had a later bedtime, though they generally slept for the same amount of time as those who finished eating earlier. The investigators also found that eating later in the day was associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) and greater body fat.
“We are certainly not the first group to show an association between delayed eating, sleep timing, and BMI,” Zaman said. “However, it has been challenging to apply sleep and circadian science to medicine due to a lack of methods for measuring daily, free-living patterns of human behavior.”
The investigators used a novel set of methods for simultaneous measurement of daily sleep, physical activity, and meal timing patterns to identify individuals at risk for increased weight gain. They found that individuals who are overweight or obese may be eating later in the day.
“The participants from whom these data were obtained are now going through a behavioral weight loss trial where we are asking half of the cohort to restrict their eating to a 10-hour window, starting within three hours of their wake time, and the other half are given no instructions regarding timing of eating,” Zaman said. “We do not yet have findings to report on the success of this trial. We are exploring whether or not restricting the feeding window by shifting it earlier into the day when people are typically more active might be a future potential weight loss method.”
In another study, Yuanjie Mao, M.D., from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, and colleagues found that for obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) following a weight loss program composed of a low-calorie restriction to 800 kcal/day, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment promotes further weight loss.
“Without strict dietary management, a prior study showed that CPAP treatment for OSA patients can cause mild weight gain in the long term, such as 1 to 2 lb in six months,” Mao said. “Our study results showed that CPAP treatment can promote further weight loss in obese patients on strict dietary management. Therefore, when we treat OSA in obese patients, dietary management should be started with CPAP treatment to prevent weight gain.”
Based on the results of the study, Mao recommends starting CPAP treatment together with a weight loss program in obese patients with OSA. If patients successfully lose weight and demonstrate improved OSA symptoms, practicing clinicians should reassess these patients to determine whether discontinuation of CPAP is possible.
M. Furkan Burak, M.D., of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues found that obesity is not only a major risk factor but also a disease modifier in asthma, and a novel connection between these two may potentially lead to new treatment. Specifically, the investigators found that the adipose hormone aP2 may be an independent risk factor for obesity-related asthma.
“When clinicians are treating asthma, they should really pay attention to patient weight and BMI and address obesity prior to escalating conventional asthma therapies such as steroids,” Burak said. “Our findings are very promising for novel treatments in the near future; however, currently, clinicians should address significant weight loss for asthma treatment, ideally through lifestyle changes. For severe obesity, we should count asthma as a complication of obesity and consider bariatric surgery, which has also been shown to improve obesity-related asthma in humans.”
ENDO: Sex Hormone Levels Tied to Telomere Length in Older Men
WEDNESDAY, March 27, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Higher levels of sex hormones, especially estradiol, are associated with leucocyte telomere length in older men, according to a study published in the April issue of Clinical Endocrinology to coincide with the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, held from March 23 to 26 in New Orleans.
ENDO: Recommendations Issued for Treating Osteoporosis
TUESDAY, March 26, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Recommendations have been developed for the pharmacological management of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women; the clinical practice guideline was published online March 25 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism to coincide with the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, held from March 23 to 26 in New Orleans.
ENDO: Guidance Provided for Managing Diabetes in Seniors
TUESDAY, March 26, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Recommendations have been developed for the management of diabetes in older adults; the clinical practice guideline was published online March 23 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism to coincide with the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, held from March 23 to 26 in New Orleans.
ENDO: Levothyroxine Does Not Up Fertility in Women With TPO Ab
TUESDAY, March 26, 2019 (HealthDay News) — For euthyroid women with thyroid peroxidase antibodies and a history of miscarriage or infertility, levothyroxine does not result in an increased rate of live births versus placebo, according to a study published online March 23 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with presentation at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, held from March 23 to 26 in New Orleans.
ENDO: Diabetes Underestimated With HbA1c Criteria
MONDAY, March 25, 2019 (HealthDay News) — The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is underestimated and normal glucose tolerance is overestimated using hemoglobin A1c criteria, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, held from March 23 to 26 in New Orleans.
ENDO: Older T1DM Patients Often Unaware of Hypoglycemic Status
MONDAY, March 25, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Older adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus spend more than an hour per day in the hypoglycemic range, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, held from March 23 to 26 in New Orleans.
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