Top 5 online endocrine stories from October

Endocrine Today put together a compilation of the five news stories most viewed from October 2015 to keep you abreast of the current hot topics in endocrinology.

Healio.com/Endocrinology readers were interested in obesity and poverty, PCB levels in women, vitamin D dose and its effect on insulin resistance and much more.

Obesity and poverty: Q&A with a dietitian nutritionist

There have been several studies throughout the past year linking obesity and poverty, particularly among children and women.

Kristen Gradney , RDN, LDN, is the director of nutrition and metabolic services at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, and former manager of nutrition services at the Women’s Center for Wellness, both in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is also the state policy representative for the Louisiana Dietetic Association, and a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Gradney spoke to Endocrine Today about the possible link between poverty and obesity, and how physicians can better care for low-income patients. Read more.

PCB levels rise in women with obesity after weight loss

Women with obesity assigned to lose weight through diet or bariatric surgery saw a rise in serum polychlorinated biphenyl levels at 6 months, with a greater effect observed in women who lost weight through diet, according to research in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Eveline Dirinck , MD, of the departments of endocrinology, diabetology and metabolic disease at Antwerp University Hospital in Edegem, Belgium, and colleagues analyzed data from 45 women with obesity (mean age, 40 years; mean BMI, 40 kg/m²) who visited the weight management clinic at Antwerp University Hospital between 2010 and 2012. Read more.

Vitamin D dose does not affect insulin resistance in older adults with overweight

Older adults assigned high-dose vitamin D supplementation for 1 year showed no differences in measures of insulin resistance when compared with older adults assigned a lower dose of vitamin D, according to recent study findings presented at The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research Annual Meeting.

“High dose vitamin D did not improve insulin resistance in elderly overweight individuals,” Ghada El-Hajj Fuleihan, MD, MPH, of American University of Beirut-Medical Center in Lebanon, and colleagues wrote. “Regardless of vitamin D dose, an unexpected rise in fasting glucose, that correlated with the rise in [vitamin D levels], and exceeded the anticipated rise in [fasting blood sugar] in an aging, overweight population, was observed.” Read more.

Vitamin D supplementation improves menstrual intervals in women with PCOS

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome who also were vitamin D deficient saw a significant decrease in the intervals between menstrual periods after 8 weeks of vitamin D supplementation, according to research in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Mohamad Irani , MD, of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, and colleagues analyzed data from 68 women aged 18 to 38 years with PCOS and vitamin D deficiency who were not pregnant, postpartum or breast-feeding or taking any exogenous hormones between October 2013 and January 2015. Read more.

FRAX calculations overlook many women at risk for osteoporotic fracture

Fracture Risk Assessment Tool calculations fail to identify many women who are likely to experience a major osteoporotic fracture or hip fracture during the next 10 years, according to recent study findings presented at The North American Menopause Society Annual Meeting.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis, researchers found that the Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) — created to predict the likelihood that adults aged 40 to 90 years will break a bone in a fragility fracture and designed to help physicians identify osteoporosis cases not diagnosed through bone mineral density tests —has a low sensitivity for predicting future risk. Read more.