Andrew D. Bowser

BOSTON – Nodules located in the upper pole of the thyroid are more likely to be malignant, according to the results of a retrospective, single-center study presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

When nodules were located in the upper pole of the gland, the risk of malignancy was about 4 times higher than it was for nodules at other locations in the gland. Researchers confirmed the association using a multiple logistic regression model with adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, laterality, and number of nodules (odds ratio, 4.6; P = 0.03). The findings are believed to be the first to show an association between location of thyroid nodules on ultrasound and malignancy risk.

The results appear to elevate the value of ultrasound for predicting thyroid malignancy and should affect guidelines for ultrasound classification of thyroid nodules, researcher Fan Zhang, MD, PhD, a fellow at State University of New York, Brooklyn, said in a video interview. “In the future, I would recommend maybe we could consider including the location of thyroid nodules in the guidelines for better predictive value of malignancies,” she said.

Other ultrasound characteristics known to be associated with malignancy include findings of microcalcifications, increased vascularity, and nodules that are taller than they are wide, according to Dr. Zhang.

The retrospective review included data on 219 clinic patients with thyroid nodules who underwent fine-needle aspiration biopsy between July 2016 and June 2017. Nearly 80% of the nodules in the review were located in the lower pole of the gland, about 10% were in the upper pole, 7% were in the middle pole, and about 2% were found in the isthmus.

Fourteen nodules, or 7.4%, were found to be malignant, Dr. Zhang and her coauthors said in their presentation. Of those 14 malignancies, 7 were among the 149 nodules in the lower pole, 4 were among the 18 in the upper pole, and 3 were among the 21 in the middle pole.

The anatomy of the thyroid gland may be a factor in why upper pole nodules would be more likely to be associated with malignancy, according to Dr. Zhang. “The veins in the upper lobe are more tortuous compared to in the lower lobe,” she said, noting that slow venous drainage may increase the possibility of developing malignancy.

Dr. Zhang had no relevant disclosures to report.

SOURCE: Zhang F et al. AACE 2018, Abstract 1204.

BOSTON – Nodules located in the upper pole of the thyroid are more likely to be malignant, according to the results of a retrospective, single-center study presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

When nodules were located in the upper pole of the gland, the risk of malignancy was about 4 times higher than it was for nodules at other locations in the gland. Researchers confirmed the association using a multiple logistic regression model with adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, laterality, and number of nodules (odds ratio, 4.6; P = 0.03). The findings are believed to be the first to show an association between location of thyroid nodules on ultrasound and malignancy risk.

The results appear to elevate the value of ultrasound for predicting thyroid malignancy and should affect guidelines for ultrasound classification of thyroid nodules, researcher Fan Zhang, MD, PhD, a fellow at State University of New York, Brooklyn, said in a video interview. “In the future, I would recommend maybe we could consider including the location of thyroid nodules in the guidelines for better predictive value of malignancies,” she said.

Other ultrasound characteristics known to be associated with malignancy include findings of microcalcifications, increased vascularity, and nodules that are taller than they are wide, according to Dr. Zhang.

The retrospective review included data on 219 clinic patients with thyroid nodules who underwent fine-needle aspiration biopsy between July 2016 and June 2017. Nearly 80% of the nodules in the review were located in the lower pole of the gland, about 10% were in the upper pole, 7% were in the middle pole, and about 2% were found in the isthmus.

Fourteen nodules, or 7.4%, were found to be malignant, Dr. Zhang and her coauthors said in their presentation. Of those 14 malignancies, 7 were among the 149 nodules in the lower pole, 4 were among the 18 in the upper pole, and 3 were among the 21 in the middle pole.

The anatomy of the thyroid gland may be a factor in why upper pole nodules would be more likely to be associated with malignancy, according to Dr. Zhang. “The veins in the upper lobe are more tortuous compared to in the lower lobe,” she said, noting that slow venous drainage may increase the possibility of developing malignancy.

Dr. Zhang had no relevant disclosures to report.

SOURCE: Zhang F et al. AACE 2018, Abstract 1204.

BOSTON – Nodules located in the upper pole of the thyroid are more likely to be malignant, according to the results of a retrospective, single-center study presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

When nodules were located in the upper pole of the gland, the risk of malignancy was about 4 times higher than it was for nodules at other locations in the gland. Researchers confirmed the association using a multiple logistic regression model with adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, laterality, and number of nodules (odds ratio, 4.6; P = 0.03). The findings are believed to be the first to show an association between location of thyroid nodules on ultrasound and malignancy risk.

The results appear to elevate the value of ultrasound for predicting thyroid malignancy and should affect guidelines for ultrasound classification of thyroid nodules, researcher Fan Zhang, MD, PhD, a fellow at State University of New York, Brooklyn, said in a video interview. “In the future, I would recommend maybe we could consider including the location of thyroid nodules in the guidelines for better predictive value of malignancies,” she said.

Other ultrasound characteristics known to be associated with malignancy include findings of microcalcifications, increased vascularity, and nodules that are taller than they are wide, according to Dr. Zhang.

The retrospective review included data on 219 clinic patients with thyroid nodules who underwent fine-needle aspiration biopsy between July 2016 and June 2017. Nearly 80% of the nodules in the review were located in the lower pole of the gland, about 10% were in the upper pole, 7% were in the middle pole, and about 2% were found in the isthmus.

Fourteen nodules, or 7.4%, were found to be malignant, Dr. Zhang and her coauthors said in their presentation. Of those 14 malignancies, 7 were among the 149 nodules in the lower pole, 4 were among the 18 in the upper pole, and 3 were among the 21 in the middle pole.

The anatomy of the thyroid gland may be a factor in why upper pole nodules would be more likely to be associated with malignancy, according to Dr. Zhang. “The veins in the upper lobe are more tortuous compared to in the lower lobe,” she said, noting that slow venous drainage may increase the possibility of developing malignancy.

Dr. Zhang had no relevant disclosures to report.

SOURCE: Zhang F et al. AACE 2018, Abstract 1204.

BOSTON – It’s time to move beyond body mass index and think about obesity as a chronic disease with complications that may need medical therapy, W. Timothy Garvey, MD, said.

“The term ‘obesity’ means so many things to different people,” Dr. Garvey explained in a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. “It doesn’t tell you what the impact is of excess adiposity on health.”

In fact, obesity meets the criteria needed to be defined as a disease, said Dr. Garvey, who coauthored a 2017 AACE position statement recommending a new diagnostic term for obesity: adiposity-based chronic disease, or ABCD.

“It’s not going to replace the general use of the term ‘obesity,’ of course; but for medical diagnosis, this term does tell you what we’re treating, and why we’re treating it,” noted Dr. Garvey, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Instead of relying on BMI [body mass index], the ABCD model emphasizes a “complications-centric” approach that drives therapeutic decisions, which may include medication.

“A structured lifestyle intervention is the key to therapy, but if we add medications on to any lifestyle intervention, we’re going to get more bang for the buck,” Dr. Garvey explained.

“We’re going to get more weight loss and be able to keep it off for a longer period of time,” he added. “We want that in situations in particular where the patient really has complications. This could be diabetes, it could be prediabetes, it could be obstructive sleep apnea, symptomatic osteoarthritis in the knees, stress incontinence, hypertension – any one of a number of weight-related complications that are really impairing health.”

BOSTON – It’s time to move beyond body mass index and think about obesity as a chronic disease with complications that may need medical therapy, W. Timothy Garvey, MD, said.

“The term ‘obesity’ means so many things to different people,” Dr. Garvey explained in a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. “It doesn’t tell you what the impact is of excess adiposity on health.”

In fact, obesity meets the criteria needed to be defined as a disease, said Dr. Garvey, who coauthored a 2017 AACE position statement recommending a new diagnostic term for obesity: adiposity-based chronic disease, or ABCD.

“It’s not going to replace the general use of the term ‘obesity,’ of course; but for medical diagnosis, this term does tell you what we’re treating, and why we’re treating it,” noted Dr. Garvey, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Instead of relying on BMI [body mass index], the ABCD model emphasizes a “complications-centric” approach that drives therapeutic decisions, which may include medication.

“A structured lifestyle intervention is the key to therapy, but if we add medications on to any lifestyle intervention, we’re going to get more bang for the buck,” Dr. Garvey explained.

“We’re going to get more weight loss and be able to keep it off for a longer period of time,” he added. “We want that in situations in particular where the patient really has complications. This could be diabetes, it could be prediabetes, it could be obstructive sleep apnea, symptomatic osteoarthritis in the knees, stress incontinence, hypertension – any one of a number of weight-related complications that are really impairing health.”

BOSTON – It’s time to move beyond body mass index and think about obesity as a chronic disease with complications that may need medical therapy, W. Timothy Garvey, MD, said.

“The term ‘obesity’ means so many things to different people,” Dr. Garvey explained in a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. “It doesn’t tell you what the impact is of excess adiposity on health.”

In fact, obesity meets the criteria needed to be defined as a disease, said Dr. Garvey, who coauthored a 2017 AACE position statement recommending a new diagnostic term for obesity: adiposity-based chronic disease, or ABCD.

“It’s not going to replace the general use of the term ‘obesity,’ of course; but for medical diagnosis, this term does tell you what we’re treating, and why we’re treating it,” noted Dr. Garvey, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Instead of relying on BMI [body mass index], the ABCD model emphasizes a “complications-centric” approach that drives therapeutic decisions, which may include medication.

“A structured lifestyle intervention is the key to therapy, but if we add medications on to any lifestyle intervention, we’re going to get more bang for the buck,” Dr. Garvey explained.

“We’re going to get more weight loss and be able to keep it off for a longer period of time,” he added. “We want that in situations in particular where the patient really has complications. This could be diabetes, it could be prediabetes, it could be obstructive sleep apnea, symptomatic osteoarthritis in the knees, stress incontinence, hypertension – any one of a number of weight-related complications that are really impairing health.”

BOSTON – The PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab was superior to ezetimibe in meeting multiple lipid goals In patients with type 2 diabetes, according to results from a pooled analysis of randomized clinical trials.

“Alirocumab is an efficient therapy to get patients at target, which is our clinical daily business and the reason to treat patients,” said investigator Dirk Müller-Wieland, MD, an internist at University Hospital Aachen, Germany.

Dr. Müller-Wieland and his colleagues conducted a pooled analysis of 407 individuals with type 2 diabetes enrolled in one of three randomized trials who had hypercholesterolemia despite background lipid-lowering treatments. They found a total of 241 patients with diabetes who had received alirocumab in the trials, and 166 who had received ezetimibe.

With alirocumab on top of statins, 75.0% of patients met a combined LDL cholesterol, non–HDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B threshold after 24 weeks of treatment, compared with 56.7% of patients receiving ezetimibe along with their statins, a significant difference, it was reported at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

The proportion of patients achieving LDL levels of less than 70 or 100 mg/dL (depending on cardiovascular risk) was significantly larger in the alirocumab group than in the ezetimibe group, at 80.8% versus 64.3%, Dr. Müller-Wieland reported.

In patients with extreme cardiovascular risk, the proportion of patients achieving LDL levels of less than 55 mg/dL was 66.0% in the alirocumab group, compared with 36.6% in the ezetimibe group, suggesting the PCSK9 inhibitor was “much more efficient than ezetimibe” in reaching that goal, Dr. Müller-Wieland said in a video interview.

For patients in the extreme cardiovascular risk category, as defined in recent guidelines, the AACE recommends a new LDL treatment goal of less than 55 mg/dL, Dr. Müller-Wieland noted.

Significant differences in favor of alirocumab were also reported for the proportion of patients achieving non-HDL and ApoB goals, the report showed.

Adverse events related to treatment occurred in a similar proportion of patients in the alirocumab and ezetimibe groups, according to the investigators.

SOURCE: Müller-Wieland D et al. AACE 2018. Abstract #402.

BOSTON – The PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab was superior to ezetimibe in meeting multiple lipid goals In patients with type 2 diabetes, according to results from a pooled analysis of randomized clinical trials.

“Alirocumab is an efficient therapy to get patients at target, which is our clinical daily business and the reason to treat patients,” said investigator Dirk Müller-Wieland, MD, an internist at University Hospital Aachen, Germany.

Dr. Müller-Wieland and his colleagues conducted a pooled analysis of 407 individuals with type 2 diabetes enrolled in one of three randomized trials who had hypercholesterolemia despite background lipid-lowering treatments. They found a total of 241 patients with diabetes who had received alirocumab in the trials, and 166 who had received ezetimibe.

With alirocumab on top of statins, 75.0% of patients met a combined LDL cholesterol, non–HDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B threshold after 24 weeks of treatment, compared with 56.7% of patients receiving ezetimibe along with their statins, a significant difference, it was reported at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

The proportion of patients achieving LDL levels of less than 70 or 100 mg/dL (depending on cardiovascular risk) was significantly larger in the alirocumab group than in the ezetimibe group, at 80.8% versus 64.3%, Dr. Müller-Wieland reported.

In patients with extreme cardiovascular risk, the proportion of patients achieving LDL levels of less than 55 mg/dL was 66.0% in the alirocumab group, compared with 36.6% in the ezetimibe group, suggesting the PCSK9 inhibitor was “much more efficient than ezetimibe” in reaching that goal, Dr. Müller-Wieland said in a video interview.

For patients in the extreme cardiovascular risk category, as defined in recent guidelines, the AACE recommends a new LDL treatment goal of less than 55 mg/dL, Dr. Müller-Wieland noted.

Significant differences in favor of alirocumab were also reported for the proportion of patients achieving non-HDL and ApoB goals, the report showed.

Adverse events related to treatment occurred in a similar proportion of patients in the alirocumab and ezetimibe groups, according to the investigators.

SOURCE: Müller-Wieland D et al. AACE 2018. Abstract #402.

BOSTON – The PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab was superior to ezetimibe in meeting multiple lipid goals In patients with type 2 diabetes, according to results from a pooled analysis of randomized clinical trials.

“Alirocumab is an efficient therapy to get patients at target, which is our clinical daily business and the reason to treat patients,” said investigator Dirk Müller-Wieland, MD, an internist at University Hospital Aachen, Germany.

Dr. Müller-Wieland and his colleagues conducted a pooled analysis of 407 individuals with type 2 diabetes enrolled in one of three randomized trials who had hypercholesterolemia despite background lipid-lowering treatments. They found a total of 241 patients with diabetes who had received alirocumab in the trials, and 166 who had received ezetimibe.

With alirocumab on top of statins, 75.0% of patients met a combined LDL cholesterol, non–HDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B threshold after 24 weeks of treatment, compared with 56.7% of patients receiving ezetimibe along with their statins, a significant difference, it was reported at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

The proportion of patients achieving LDL levels of less than 70 or 100 mg/dL (depending on cardiovascular risk) was significantly larger in the alirocumab group than in the ezetimibe group, at 80.8% versus 64.3%, Dr. Müller-Wieland reported.

In patients with extreme cardiovascular risk, the proportion of patients achieving LDL levels of less than 55 mg/dL was 66.0% in the alirocumab group, compared with 36.6% in the ezetimibe group, suggesting the PCSK9 inhibitor was “much more efficient than ezetimibe” in reaching that goal, Dr. Müller-Wieland said in a video interview.

For patients in the extreme cardiovascular risk category, as defined in recent guidelines, the AACE recommends a new LDL treatment goal of less than 55 mg/dL, Dr. Müller-Wieland noted.

Significant differences in favor of alirocumab were also reported for the proportion of patients achieving non-HDL and ApoB goals, the report showed.

Adverse events related to treatment occurred in a similar proportion of patients in the alirocumab and ezetimibe groups, according to the investigators.

SOURCE: Müller-Wieland D et al. AACE 2018. Abstract #402.

BOSTON – The SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin may increase red blood cell production by suppressing plasma levels of hepcidin, a proinflammatory inhibitor of iron transport, according to results of a randomized study.

This reduction in hepcidin provides a new mechanistic explanation for the improvement in hematocrit seen with SGLT2 inhibitor treatment and suggests a role for use of these drugs beyond their current indications, according to researcher Husam A. Ghanim, PhD, of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

SOURCE: Ghanim HA et al. AACE 2018, Abstract 228.

BOSTON – The SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin may increase red blood cell production by suppressing plasma levels of hepcidin, a proinflammatory inhibitor of iron transport, according to results of a randomized study.

This reduction in hepcidin provides a new mechanistic explanation for the improvement in hematocrit seen with SGLT2 inhibitor treatment and suggests a role for use of these drugs beyond their current indications, according to researcher Husam A. Ghanim, PhD, of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

SOURCE: Ghanim HA et al. AACE 2018, Abstract 228.

BOSTON – The SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin may increase red blood cell production by suppressing plasma levels of hepcidin, a proinflammatory inhibitor of iron transport, according to results of a randomized study.

This reduction in hepcidin provides a new mechanistic explanation for the improvement in hematocrit seen with SGLT2 inhibitor treatment and suggests a role for use of these drugs beyond their current indications, according to researcher Husam A. Ghanim, PhD, of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

SOURCE: Ghanim HA et al. AACE 2018, Abstract 228.

BOSTON – Endocrinologists need to be familiar with new practice guidelines and changes in the landscape of transgender health care, Joshua D. Safer, MD, executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, New York, said in a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

“We endocrinologists ... need to be able to help (gender-dysphoric/gender-incongruent) individuals, even if it’s just an occasional patient, to do what is safe and to be expert (in transgender health care), just as we are with other hormone treatments,” he said in a discussion of aspects of the Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline on endocrine treatment of gender-dysphoric/gender-incongruent individuals.

The new guidelines, published in November 2017, update 2009 guidance from the society. Among the big changes are the recognition that there may be “compelling reasons” to start cross-sex hormonal therapy prior to the old age cutoff of 16 years, which is “very late if you’re thinking about it from a biological perspective,” said Dr. Safer.

Another major change challenges the idea that a mental health professional is necessary to diagnose adults. Rather, any knowledgeable clinician could make the diagnosis, according to Dr. Safer.

The guidelines also recommend that endocrinologists provide education regarding onset and time course of physical changes induced by sex hormone treatments to transgender individuals undergoing treatment.

BOSTON – Endocrinologists need to be familiar with new practice guidelines and changes in the landscape of transgender health care, Joshua D. Safer, MD, executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, New York, said in a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

“We endocrinologists ... need to be able to help (gender-dysphoric/gender-incongruent) individuals, even if it’s just an occasional patient, to do what is safe and to be expert (in transgender health care), just as we are with other hormone treatments,” he said in a discussion of aspects of the Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline on endocrine treatment of gender-dysphoric/gender-incongruent individuals.

The new guidelines, published in November 2017, update 2009 guidance from the society. Among the big changes are the recognition that there may be “compelling reasons” to start cross-sex hormonal therapy prior to the old age cutoff of 16 years, which is “very late if you’re thinking about it from a biological perspective,” said Dr. Safer.

Another major change challenges the idea that a mental health professional is necessary to diagnose adults. Rather, any knowledgeable clinician could make the diagnosis, according to Dr. Safer.

The guidelines also recommend that endocrinologists provide education regarding onset and time course of physical changes induced by sex hormone treatments to transgender individuals undergoing treatment.

BOSTON – Endocrinologists need to be familiar with new practice guidelines and changes in the landscape of transgender health care, Joshua D. Safer, MD, executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, New York, said in a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

“We endocrinologists ... need to be able to help (gender-dysphoric/gender-incongruent) individuals, even if it’s just an occasional patient, to do what is safe and to be expert (in transgender health care), just as we are with other hormone treatments,” he said in a discussion of aspects of the Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline on endocrine treatment of gender-dysphoric/gender-incongruent individuals.

The new guidelines, published in November 2017, update 2009 guidance from the society. Among the big changes are the recognition that there may be “compelling reasons” to start cross-sex hormonal therapy prior to the old age cutoff of 16 years, which is “very late if you’re thinking about it from a biological perspective,” said Dr. Safer.

Another major change challenges the idea that a mental health professional is necessary to diagnose adults. Rather, any knowledgeable clinician could make the diagnosis, according to Dr. Safer.

The guidelines also recommend that endocrinologists provide education regarding onset and time course of physical changes induced by sex hormone treatments to transgender individuals undergoing treatment.

BOSTON – A new era for endocrinology could emerge based in part on the recent discovery of viral sequences that align with human peptide hormones, C. Ronald Kahn, MD, said in a plenary presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Using a bioinformatics approach, researchers have identified viral sequences that align closely with 16 different human peptide hormones, including four very strongly aligned viral insulin/insulinlike growth factor–I peptides, or VILPs.

Andrew Bowser/MDedge News

BOSTON – A new era for endocrinology could emerge based in part on the recent discovery of viral sequences that align with human peptide hormones, C. Ronald Kahn, MD, said in a plenary presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Using a bioinformatics approach, researchers have identified viral sequences that align closely with 16 different human peptide hormones, including four very strongly aligned viral insulin/insulinlike growth factor–I peptides, or VILPs.

Andrew Bowser/MDedge News

BOSTON – A new era for endocrinology could emerge based in part on the recent discovery of viral sequences that align with human peptide hormones, C. Ronald Kahn, MD, said in a plenary presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Using a bioinformatics approach, researchers have identified viral sequences that align closely with 16 different human peptide hormones, including four very strongly aligned viral insulin/insulinlike growth factor–I peptides, or VILPs.

Andrew Bowser/MDedge News

BOSTON – Women with type 1 diabetes had a high prevalence of systemic collagen vascular diseases in a recent study, suggesting a global or progressive loss of immune tolerance, investigators reported at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

“The median time of diagnosis for most of those autoimmune diseases was years after the diabetes diagnosis,” according to investigator Yicheng Bao, a medical student at University of Missouri-Kansas City.*

“I think there’s some loss of immune tolerance in these patients with type 1 diabetes that really deserves more study as these patients get older,” Mr. Bao said in a video interview.

The study from Mr. Bao and his colleagues was based on patient questionnaire responses and medical chart reviews for 1,167 adults with type 1 diabetes, including 628 women.

They found that SCVDs occurred in 9.2% of women, who had a significantly higher risk versus men (adjusted odds ratio, 2.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.98-3.34; P less than 0.0001).

Rheumatoid arthritis was the most commonly diagnosed SCVD, occurring in 4.3% of the women, followed by psoriasis at 2.6% and lupus at 1.8%. Others occurring in less than 1% of women included Sjögren’s, mixed connective tissue disease, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, juvenile RA, and scleroderma.

Older women were at higher risk of SCVD, with a mean age of 53.6 years versus 46.3 years for women with no SCVD (P = 0.006).

*This article was updated on May 18, 2018.

BOSTON – Women with type 1 diabetes had a high prevalence of systemic collagen vascular diseases in a recent study, suggesting a global or progressive loss of immune tolerance, investigators reported at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

“The median time of diagnosis for most of those autoimmune diseases was years after the diabetes diagnosis,” according to investigator Yicheng Bao, a medical student at University of Missouri-Kansas City.*

“I think there’s some loss of immune tolerance in these patients with type 1 diabetes that really deserves more study as these patients get older,” Mr. Bao said in a video interview.

The study from Mr. Bao and his colleagues was based on patient questionnaire responses and medical chart reviews for 1,167 adults with type 1 diabetes, including 628 women.

They found that SCVDs occurred in 9.2% of women, who had a significantly higher risk versus men (adjusted odds ratio, 2.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.98-3.34; P less than 0.0001).

Rheumatoid arthritis was the most commonly diagnosed SCVD, occurring in 4.3% of the women, followed by psoriasis at 2.6% and lupus at 1.8%. Others occurring in less than 1% of women included Sjögren’s, mixed connective tissue disease, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, juvenile RA, and scleroderma.

Older women were at higher risk of SCVD, with a mean age of 53.6 years versus 46.3 years for women with no SCVD (P = 0.006).

*This article was updated on May 18, 2018.

BOSTON – Women with type 1 diabetes had a high prevalence of systemic collagen vascular diseases in a recent study, suggesting a global or progressive loss of immune tolerance, investigators reported at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

“The median time of diagnosis for most of those autoimmune diseases was years after the diabetes diagnosis,” according to investigator Yicheng Bao, a medical student at University of Missouri-Kansas City.*

“I think there’s some loss of immune tolerance in these patients with type 1 diabetes that really deserves more study as these patients get older,” Mr. Bao said in a video interview.

The study from Mr. Bao and his colleagues was based on patient questionnaire responses and medical chart reviews for 1,167 adults with type 1 diabetes, including 628 women.

They found that SCVDs occurred in 9.2% of women, who had a significantly higher risk versus men (adjusted odds ratio, 2.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.98-3.34; P less than 0.0001).

Rheumatoid arthritis was the most commonly diagnosed SCVD, occurring in 4.3% of the women, followed by psoriasis at 2.6% and lupus at 1.8%. Others occurring in less than 1% of women included Sjögren’s, mixed connective tissue disease, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, juvenile RA, and scleroderma.

Older women were at higher risk of SCVD, with a mean age of 53.6 years versus 46.3 years for women with no SCVD (P = 0.006).

*This article was updated on May 18, 2018.

Many calls to endocrinology fellows are often not urgent and could be directed to the clinic, potentially reducing work burden on the on-call fellows, a review of one center’s call logs suggests.

Nearly half of all calls were not urgent, many were after hours, and refill requests constituted the most common reason the patient initiated contact, according to Uzma Mohammad Siddiqui, MD, who presented results of the call log review in a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

The log review was part of a quality initiative intended to streamline care of patients to their primary endocrinologists whenever appropriate, according to Dr. Siddiqui, a second-year fellow at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

“A lot of these calls were happening after 6:00 p.m. until midnight, sometimes waking fellows up from their sleep,” Dr. Siddiqui said in an interview. “Fellows thought that these were disruptive to their personal life, and also it was causing frustration among patients when they were not able to reach their primary endocrinologists.”

On-call endocrinology fellows logged a total of 100 calls between July and August 2017. Of those calls, the fellows categorized 47% as nonurgent, Dr. Siddiqui reported.

About one-quarter of the calls came in between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m., with an average of 1.6 calls logged per 24-hour period. The actual average is probably higher, since fellows missed logging some calls during busy inpatient service days, the investigators said.

The most common reason for the calls, at 39%, was for refills of insulin, test strips, or noninsulin medication, which could have been directed to the clinic, according to Dr. Siddiqui and coauthors of the poster.

To tackle the issue of nonurgent calls, Dr. Siddiqui and colleagues have been educating patients to call during work hours for test results, and to request refills 3 business days ahead of time. In addition, they are reminding providers to ask about refills during the clinic visit and to discuss with patients when an after-hours call because of blood glucose thresholds would be warranted.

Dr. Siddiqui and colleagues are now analyzing results of these initiatives to show to what extent they are reducing work burden on fellows and improving patient satisfaction.

“Even in the past 2-3 months, we have seen a significant improvement,” Dr. Siddiqui said.

“The patients get to speak to their primary endocrinologist and are happier with their care, because they have one provider, one person who’s answering their questions,” she added. “With this, we also reduced the burden of nonurgent calls, so the fellows have more personal time, are not getting disturbed in their sleep, and have less chances of being over worked or fatigued.”

Dr. Siddiqui reported no disclosures related to the presentation.

Many calls to endocrinology fellows are often not urgent and could be directed to the clinic, potentially reducing work burden on the on-call fellows, a review of one center’s call logs suggests.

Nearly half of all calls were not urgent, many were after hours, and refill requests constituted the most common reason the patient initiated contact, according to Uzma Mohammad Siddiqui, MD, who presented results of the call log review in a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

The log review was part of a quality initiative intended to streamline care of patients to their primary endocrinologists whenever appropriate, according to Dr. Siddiqui, a second-year fellow at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

“A lot of these calls were happening after 6:00 p.m. until midnight, sometimes waking fellows up from their sleep,” Dr. Siddiqui said in an interview. “Fellows thought that these were disruptive to their personal life, and also it was causing frustration among patients when they were not able to reach their primary endocrinologists.”

On-call endocrinology fellows logged a total of 100 calls between July and August 2017. Of those calls, the fellows categorized 47% as nonurgent, Dr. Siddiqui reported.

About one-quarter of the calls came in between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m., with an average of 1.6 calls logged per 24-hour period. The actual average is probably higher, since fellows missed logging some calls during busy inpatient service days, the investigators said.

The most common reason for the calls, at 39%, was for refills of insulin, test strips, or noninsulin medication, which could have been directed to the clinic, according to Dr. Siddiqui and coauthors of the poster.

To tackle the issue of nonurgent calls, Dr. Siddiqui and colleagues have been educating patients to call during work hours for test results, and to request refills 3 business days ahead of time. In addition, they are reminding providers to ask about refills during the clinic visit and to discuss with patients when an after-hours call because of blood glucose thresholds would be warranted.

Dr. Siddiqui and colleagues are now analyzing results of these initiatives to show to what extent they are reducing work burden on fellows and improving patient satisfaction.

“Even in the past 2-3 months, we have seen a significant improvement,” Dr. Siddiqui said.

“The patients get to speak to their primary endocrinologist and are happier with their care, because they have one provider, one person who’s answering their questions,” she added. “With this, we also reduced the burden of nonurgent calls, so the fellows have more personal time, are not getting disturbed in their sleep, and have less chances of being over worked or fatigued.”

Dr. Siddiqui reported no disclosures related to the presentation.

Many calls to endocrinology fellows are often not urgent and could be directed to the clinic, potentially reducing work burden on the on-call fellows, a review of one center’s call logs suggests.

Nearly half of all calls were not urgent, many were after hours, and refill requests constituted the most common reason the patient initiated contact, according to Uzma Mohammad Siddiqui, MD, who presented results of the call log review in a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

The log review was part of a quality initiative intended to streamline care of patients to their primary endocrinologists whenever appropriate, according to Dr. Siddiqui, a second-year fellow at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

“A lot of these calls were happening after 6:00 p.m. until midnight, sometimes waking fellows up from their sleep,” Dr. Siddiqui said in an interview. “Fellows thought that these were disruptive to their personal life, and also it was causing frustration among patients when they were not able to reach their primary endocrinologists.”

On-call endocrinology fellows logged a total of 100 calls between July and August 2017. Of those calls, the fellows categorized 47% as nonurgent, Dr. Siddiqui reported.

About one-quarter of the calls came in between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m., with an average of 1.6 calls logged per 24-hour period. The actual average is probably higher, since fellows missed logging some calls during busy inpatient service days, the investigators said.

The most common reason for the calls, at 39%, was for refills of insulin, test strips, or noninsulin medication, which could have been directed to the clinic, according to Dr. Siddiqui and coauthors of the poster.

To tackle the issue of nonurgent calls, Dr. Siddiqui and colleagues have been educating patients to call during work hours for test results, and to request refills 3 business days ahead of time. In addition, they are reminding providers to ask about refills during the clinic visit and to discuss with patients when an after-hours call because of blood glucose thresholds would be warranted.

Dr. Siddiqui and colleagues are now analyzing results of these initiatives to show to what extent they are reducing work burden on fellows and improving patient satisfaction.

“Even in the past 2-3 months, we have seen a significant improvement,” Dr. Siddiqui said.

“The patients get to speak to their primary endocrinologist and are happier with their care, because they have one provider, one person who’s answering their questions,” she added. “With this, we also reduced the burden of nonurgent calls, so the fellows have more personal time, are not getting disturbed in their sleep, and have less chances of being over worked or fatigued.”

Dr. Siddiqui reported no disclosures related to the presentation.

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy may have clinical benefits over standard treatment in gastric cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis, exploratory analyses of a randomized clinical trial suggest.

Although it failed to demonstrate a statistical overall survival advantage versus standard chemotherapy in the primary analysis of the phase 3 trial, intraperitoneal treatment had a significantly longer overall survival in an analysis adjusted for presence of ascites, study investigators reported.

In addition, the 3-year overall survival rate was significantly higher in the intraperitoneal arm of the trial, according to Hironori Ishigami, MD, PhD, of the University of Tokyo, and coinvestigators.

“Considering the results of these analyses, the efficacy of the IP [intraperitoneal] regimen seems underestimated by the primary analysis,” Dr. Ishigami and coauthors wrote in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The main culprits were an imbalance in ascites between arms, and crossover from standard therapy to the intraperitoneal arm, they added.

The phase 3 trial included 183 patients with gastric cancer and peritoneal metastases who had less than 2 months of prior chemotherapy. They were randomly assigned to receive either intraperitoneal and intravenous paclitaxel plus S-1 (tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil) or standard S-1 plus cisplatin.

Median survival was 17.7 months in the intraperitoneal arm, and 15.2 months in the standard-treatment arm (hazard ratio, 0.72; P = .08), Dr. Ishigami and associates reported.

SOURCE: Ishigami H et al. J Clin Oncol. 2018 May 10. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2018.77.8613.

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy may have clinical benefits over standard treatment in gastric cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis, exploratory analyses of a randomized clinical trial suggest.

Although it failed to demonstrate a statistical overall survival advantage versus standard chemotherapy in the primary analysis of the phase 3 trial, intraperitoneal treatment had a significantly longer overall survival in an analysis adjusted for presence of ascites, study investigators reported.

In addition, the 3-year overall survival rate was significantly higher in the intraperitoneal arm of the trial, according to Hironori Ishigami, MD, PhD, of the University of Tokyo, and coinvestigators.

“Considering the results of these analyses, the efficacy of the IP [intraperitoneal] regimen seems underestimated by the primary analysis,” Dr. Ishigami and coauthors wrote in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The main culprits were an imbalance in ascites between arms, and crossover from standard therapy to the intraperitoneal arm, they added.

The phase 3 trial included 183 patients with gastric cancer and peritoneal metastases who had less than 2 months of prior chemotherapy. They were randomly assigned to receive either intraperitoneal and intravenous paclitaxel plus S-1 (tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil) or standard S-1 plus cisplatin.

Median survival was 17.7 months in the intraperitoneal arm, and 15.2 months in the standard-treatment arm (hazard ratio, 0.72; P = .08), Dr. Ishigami and associates reported.

SOURCE: Ishigami H et al. J Clin Oncol. 2018 May 10. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2018.77.8613.

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy may have clinical benefits over standard treatment in gastric cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis, exploratory analyses of a randomized clinical trial suggest.

Although it failed to demonstrate a statistical overall survival advantage versus standard chemotherapy in the primary analysis of the phase 3 trial, intraperitoneal treatment had a significantly longer overall survival in an analysis adjusted for presence of ascites, study investigators reported.

In addition, the 3-year overall survival rate was significantly higher in the intraperitoneal arm of the trial, according to Hironori Ishigami, MD, PhD, of the University of Tokyo, and coinvestigators.

“Considering the results of these analyses, the efficacy of the IP [intraperitoneal] regimen seems underestimated by the primary analysis,” Dr. Ishigami and coauthors wrote in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The main culprits were an imbalance in ascites between arms, and crossover from standard therapy to the intraperitoneal arm, they added.

The phase 3 trial included 183 patients with gastric cancer and peritoneal metastases who had less than 2 months of prior chemotherapy. They were randomly assigned to receive either intraperitoneal and intravenous paclitaxel plus S-1 (tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil) or standard S-1 plus cisplatin.

Median survival was 17.7 months in the intraperitoneal arm, and 15.2 months in the standard-treatment arm (hazard ratio, 0.72; P = .08), Dr. Ishigami and associates reported.

SOURCE: Ishigami H et al. J Clin Oncol. 2018 May 10. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2018.77.8613.

Bortezomib added to an alternating chemoimmunotherapy regimen did not improve time to treatment failure in patients with newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), results of a phase 2 study have suggested.

Response rates and time to treatment failure were similar to what has been seen historically without the addition of bortezomib, according to study investigator Jorge E. Romaguera, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and his colleagues.

The phase 2 study included 95 patients with newly diagnosed MCL treated with alternating cycles of bortezomib added to rituximab plus hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone (BzR-hyperCVAD) and bortezomib added to rituximab plus high-dose methotrexate and high-dose cytarabine (BzR-MA).

Of 87 patients evaluable for response, alternating BzR-hyperCVAD/BzR-MA resulted in an overall response rate of 100% and a complete response rate of 82%, Dr. Romaguera and his colleagues reported in the journal Cancer. At a median follow-up of 44 months, median time to treatment failure was 55 months, and median overall survival had not yet been reached, according to the report.

Dr. Romaguera and his coauthors compared these results with those from a previous study of alternating R-hyperCVAD/R-MA, in which the median time to treatment failure was 56.4 months. “This suggests that the addition of bortezomib does not improve the outcome,” they wrote in the current report.

Although more follow-up is needed, the landscape of MCL treatment is changing quickly, they added. In particular, lenalidomide and ibrutinib, already approved for relapsed/refractory MCL, are now being evaluated as part of first-line MCL regimens. “These drugs will offer strategies of either consolidation or maintenance after induction and will hopefully help continue to improve the duration of the initial response and the overall outcome,” the researchers wrote.

In the current phase 2 study, the fact that 100% of patients achieved complete response suggested that relapses come from minimal residual disease, which “has clearly become a clinical factor for the outcomes of patients with MCL and will likely become the next endpoint,” they wrote.

The researchers reported having no financial disclosures related to the study, which was supported by Takeda Oncology.

SOURCE: Romaguera JE et al. Cancer. 2018 May 3. doi: 10.1002/cncr.31361.

Bortezomib added to an alternating chemoimmunotherapy regimen did not improve time to treatment failure in patients with newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), results of a phase 2 study have suggested.

Response rates and time to treatment failure were similar to what has been seen historically without the addition of bortezomib, according to study investigator Jorge E. Romaguera, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and his colleagues.

The phase 2 study included 95 patients with newly diagnosed MCL treated with alternating cycles of bortezomib added to rituximab plus hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone (BzR-hyperCVAD) and bortezomib added to rituximab plus high-dose methotrexate and high-dose cytarabine (BzR-MA).

Of 87 patients evaluable for response, alternating BzR-hyperCVAD/BzR-MA resulted in an overall response rate of 100% and a complete response rate of 82%, Dr. Romaguera and his colleagues reported in the journal Cancer. At a median follow-up of 44 months, median time to treatment failure was 55 months, and median overall survival had not yet been reached, according to the report.

Dr. Romaguera and his coauthors compared these results with those from a previous study of alternating R-hyperCVAD/R-MA, in which the median time to treatment failure was 56.4 months. “This suggests that the addition of bortezomib does not improve the outcome,” they wrote in the current report.

Although more follow-up is needed, the landscape of MCL treatment is changing quickly, they added. In particular, lenalidomide and ibrutinib, already approved for relapsed/refractory MCL, are now being evaluated as part of first-line MCL regimens. “These drugs will offer strategies of either consolidation or maintenance after induction and will hopefully help continue to improve the duration of the initial response and the overall outcome,” the researchers wrote.

In the current phase 2 study, the fact that 100% of patients achieved complete response suggested that relapses come from minimal residual disease, which “has clearly become a clinical factor for the outcomes of patients with MCL and will likely become the next endpoint,” they wrote.

The researchers reported having no financial disclosures related to the study, which was supported by Takeda Oncology.

SOURCE: Romaguera JE et al. Cancer. 2018 May 3. doi: 10.1002/cncr.31361.

Bortezomib added to an alternating chemoimmunotherapy regimen did not improve time to treatment failure in patients with newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), results of a phase 2 study have suggested.

Response rates and time to treatment failure were similar to what has been seen historically without the addition of bortezomib, according to study investigator Jorge E. Romaguera, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and his colleagues.

The phase 2 study included 95 patients with newly diagnosed MCL treated with alternating cycles of bortezomib added to rituximab plus hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone (BzR-hyperCVAD) and bortezomib added to rituximab plus high-dose methotrexate and high-dose cytarabine (BzR-MA).

Of 87 patients evaluable for response, alternating BzR-hyperCVAD/BzR-MA resulted in an overall response rate of 100% and a complete response rate of 82%, Dr. Romaguera and his colleagues reported in the journal Cancer. At a median follow-up of 44 months, median time to treatment failure was 55 months, and median overall survival had not yet been reached, according to the report.

Dr. Romaguera and his coauthors compared these results with those from a previous study of alternating R-hyperCVAD/R-MA, in which the median time to treatment failure was 56.4 months. “This suggests that the addition of bortezomib does not improve the outcome,” they wrote in the current report.

Although more follow-up is needed, the landscape of MCL treatment is changing quickly, they added. In particular, lenalidomide and ibrutinib, already approved for relapsed/refractory MCL, are now being evaluated as part of first-line MCL regimens. “These drugs will offer strategies of either consolidation or maintenance after induction and will hopefully help continue to improve the duration of the initial response and the overall outcome,” the researchers wrote.

In the current phase 2 study, the fact that 100% of patients achieved complete response suggested that relapses come from minimal residual disease, which “has clearly become a clinical factor for the outcomes of patients with MCL and will likely become the next endpoint,” they wrote.

The researchers reported having no financial disclosures related to the study, which was supported by Takeda Oncology.

SOURCE: Romaguera JE et al. Cancer. 2018 May 3. doi: 10.1002/cncr.31361.