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Symptoms associated with primary hyperparathyroidism are subtle and nonspecific (fatigue, myalgia, depression), and it is common belief that their severity is related to the amount of biochemical alterations typical of the disease. To verify the correctness of this view, a study was carried out in [...]
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The Endocrine Society has published new guidelines on vitamin D deficit, the main points being: population screening is not recommended, as there is no evidence of real necessity for this, although screening for vitamin D deficiency in individuals at risk for deficiency, including patients with [...]
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It is well known that old people with hypothyroidism need higher doses of levothyroxine to obtain metabolic compensation than younger subjects. As a consequence of all this, there is sometimes the case of overtreatment, with the onset of an iatrogenic hyperthyroidism, which is a causal factor for [...]
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It is well known that hyperthyroidism is associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis and consequently of osteoporotic fractures, but it is not clear yet whether this situation is valid also in case of subclinical hyperthyroidism. Using the data from a national prospective study, researchers [...]
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Supporters of the usefulness of vitamin D supplementation affirm that, beside improving bone metabolism, this vitamin is capable to produce beneficial effects also on other organs and systems, preventing the onset of various dysfunctions. For this reason, newer and newer trial are performed with [...]
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In adults with subclinical hypothyroidism (increased TSH and normal fT4), is the administration of thyroxine supplementation capable to improve cognitive function? In order to answer this question, an English trial has been performed where 94 subjects over 64 years of age with subclinical [...]
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Since an American campaign for pharmaceutical information invites male subjects to address themselves to their general practitioner in the presence of low levels of testosterone, clearly promoting an “off label” use of this substance, as it were a sort of anti-age drug or, worse, a panacea, the [...]
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The proposal to use testosterone in very old subjects is still nowadays under discussion, so every now and then researchers perform trials which should clear up this matter but they only increase confusion. It is the case of these new three trials: in the first one, performed in Europe, in order to [...]
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Some endocrinologists have proposed that the high limit of normality of TSH is to be lowered to 2.5 μU/ml (instead of the traditional value of 45 μU/ml): this suggestion, which has arisen many discussions, derives from the uncertainty about subclinical hypothyroidism prevalence in the general [...]
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Only a part, ranging from 15% to 20%, of active T3 is produced by thyroid; the rest derives from T4 peripheral conversion; so, the treatments implying T3 plus T4 administration are necessarily better than T4 administration alone. In order to deeply study the problem, 50 patients undergoing [...]