Pediatric Endocrinology News

The accurate quantification of peptide hormones in patients suspected of having a difference of sex development is “essential” for first-line testing and monitoring of the condition, according to a new consensus statement published in the European Journal of Endocrinology.

Alan J. Garber, MD, PhD, MACE, a leading expert on diabetes and cardiometabolic disorders and long-time chief medical editor of Endocrine Today, died Thursday, April 9.

Throughout the United States and around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to closed schools, with many districts now indicating closures could last through at least the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year. The closings of schools — many of which provide free or discounted breakfast and lunch for some students — is likely to exacerbate the problem of pediatric obesity and lead to an unprecedented increase in food insecurity among families, and researchers are only beginning to evaluate the potential health consequences.

Many adolescents who identify as transgender or gender nonconforming were identified as experiencing psychological comorbidities, such as depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation, with a greater burden observed among transgender males vs. transgender females, according to findings accepted for presentation at the Endocrine Society Annual Meeting.

Adolescents with obesity who did not respond to lifestyle therapy saw a greater reduction in BMI standard deviation score during a 1-year intervention with the GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide compared with similar adolescents assigned placebo, according to findings from a randomized controlled trial accepted for presentation at the Endocrine Society Annual Meeting and published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

More pregnant Japanese women have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes and fewer births have resulted in neonatal hypoglycemia since Japan adopted new criteria for diagnosing the condition in 2010, according to findings published in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation.

Adolescents and young adults with obesity who underwent sleeve gastrectomy experienced a reduction in bone mineral density measures in the year after surgery when compared with nonsurgical controls, but did not experience a decrease in bone strength despite significant weight loss, according to findings published in Bone.

Adolescents with obesity assigned the weekly GLP-1 receptor agonist exenatide for 6 months experienced a modest reduction in BMI along with improvements in several cardiometabolic markers, including 2-hour glucose and lipid profile, according to findings published in Pediatric Obesity.

Adolescent obesity is linked to midlife cancer risk among men and women, highlighting the need to tackle obesity early in life, according to findings from a population-based study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Missing a type 2 diabetes diagnosis before pregnancy may lead to complications during pregnancy and delivery for mothers and their children, according to findings published in Diabetic Medicine.