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Introduction This study was promoted by Sociedad Castellano Manchega de Endocrinologia, Nutricion y Diabetes to ascertain the characteristics of patients seen at the outpatient clinics of endocrinology and nutrition of the Castilla-La Mancha Health Authority and the case mix of diagnoses. Patients and Methods This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study of the activity of the endocrinology and nutrition outpatient clinics of public hospitals of Castile-La Mancha during 2018. All visits made on 10% of the working days were analyzed. Data collected comprised patient age and sex, whether a first or subsequent had been made, and whether this was face-to-face or not, and up to five diagnoses per visit. Results A total of 10,709 visits with a subsequent/first visit ratio of 3.4 were analyzed. Patient age was 52.1?±?18.2 years, and 67.1% were women. Type 2 diabetes mellitus, primary hypothyroidism, thyroid nodular disease, and obesity/overweight were the most common conditions recorded as first diagnosis, accounting for more than half of the total number of visits. Type 1 diabetes mellitus and thyroid cancer were the diagnoses in which the subsequent/first visit ratio was greater. Type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and primary hypothyroidism accounted for almost half of the first visits. Conclusions A wide variety of conditions were seen, some of which are among the most prevalent in the general population, while others are not so prevalent, but are complex and difficult to manage by other specialties. Improved knowledge and analysis of the data should allow for the identification of opportunities for improvement and for the implementation of specific actions.

Introduction The activity of an Endocrinology and Nutrition (E&N) department consists of inpatient care both by those attached to the department and through consultations with specialists from other departments. The inpatient care activity of all the E&N departments of a public health system has not been studied in Spain. Material and methods This was a retrospective study of hospital ward activity during 2018 of the E&N departments of the Castilla-La Mancha Public Health Service. It was undertaken in order to ascertain the characteristics of the patients attended to, both by those in charge of the E&N departments and through interconsultation with other departments, as well as the case-mix of the pathology of these patients. All patients admitted to E&N and a 10% sample of those treated through interconsultation were analysed. Results 261 admissions were recorded for Castilla-La Mancha Public Health Service E&N departments. 82.8% were urgent and 53.7% were due to type 1 diabetes mellitus. A total of 5955 patients were seen on an interconsultation basis, 591 of whom were analysed. The most frequent reason for interconsultation was diabetes mellitus/hyperglucemia (28.8%), requiring 6.1 ± 6.7 days per patient. However, interconsultations for artificial nutrition required more days of attendance per patient and accounted for a higher percentage of the total number of days of interconsultation (60.4%). Conclusions The inpatient care activity of the E&N departments of Castilla-La Mancha Public Health Service mainly consists of attending to patients with chronic pathologies of high hospital prevalence such as diabetes mellitus/hyperglucemia and, especially, clinical nutrition.

Introduction The tools for analyzing the case-mix in outpatient care are scarce and unsatisfactory. The objective of this work by the Sociedad Castellano Manchega de Endocrinologia, Nutricion y Diabetes (SCAMEND) was the development of a tool that allows to analyze the the case-mix in outpatient care in Endocrinology and Nutrition considering the complexity of the patient disease. Material and methods The SCAMEND index of complexity in outpatient care in Endocrinology and Nutrition (ISCCE-EyN) was defined using the Delphi method with two rounds between endocrinologists, comparing the complexity of each consult with that of a review visit of primary hypothyroidism. Results The first visits were considered more complex than the successive visits. Non-neoplastic thyroid pathology and uncomplicated overweight/obesity were considered the least complex diseases, while metabolopathies, multiple endocrine neoplasm syndromes and adrenal carcinoma were considered the most complex. The degree of consensus was high in most of the diseases analyzed. Conclusions We present a tool that allows to analyze the case-mix in outpatient care in Endocrinology and Nutrition considering the inherent complexity of the disease of the patient attended. This tool can be used to make comparisons between centres, to better allocate resources within a given service or for self-evaluation.

To the editor,We read with interest in this journal an article by Skralin et al. [1] on a relationship between hospital admissions and mortality in COVID-19. The findings coincide with observations...

Introduction: Several studies have shown that diabetes mellitus (DM) is a risk factor for in hospital mortality due to COVID-19. The aim of our study was to analyze if prior clinical characteristics among DM patients affected the risk of in hospital mortality compared with nondiabetic patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Material and Methods: The study was based on a retrospective, observational design and was conducted at two hospitals located in Albacete (Spain). All patients hospitalized with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic until 7 July 2020 were included. Results: During the study period, 1468 patients were hospitalized due to COVID-19; 402 of them had DM prior to hospitalization. DM was associated with higher in hospital mortality (28.6% versus 17.5%) in the univariate analysis. But, in a multivariate logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for age, presence of hypertension, smoking, presence of COPD, ACEI, ARB, antiplatelet, or anticoagulant therapy, DM was not a significant risk factor for death. Patients with DM2 receiving insulin treatment had a higher risk of in hospital death than nondiabetic patients (OR 1.78 [1.13-2.81], p=0.0126) after age was considered. The age-associated relative risk was 1.06 (1.05-1.07, p Conclusion: This study confirms that pre-admission need for insulin therapy before hospitalization in patients with DM2 are associated with higher in hospital mortality due to COVID-19 in a large sample of DM inpatients with COVID-19. Disclosure P. J. Pinés-corrales: None. M. Molina: None. L. García-blasco: None. R. Quilez toboso: None. M. Alcaraz: None. L. Vicente gutiérrez: None. G. Paterna mellinas: None. J. Calbo mayo: None. J. Alfaro-martínez: None.

Hypoparathyroidism is considered a rare endocrine disease. Despite being a deficiency of parathyroid hormone, the standard therapy is based on oral calcium and active vitamin D supplementation. This approach provides satisfactory management in most cases but may be inadequate for patients in the most complex spectrum of the disease. Other therapies are being explored, and among them, the use of recombinant human parathyroid hormone (PTH) has proved to decrease the requirements of calcium and active vitamin D to reach adequate therapeutic goals. We aimed to provide information on the effectiveness of the current recombinant parathyroid hormone analogs in the clinical management of difficult to control cases of hypoparathyroidism. We report our experience using teriparatide and PTH (1–84) through five complex cases of hypoparathyroidism of diverse etiologies. We describe each case and report the effectiveness of treatment in clinical practice. Four patients with postsurgical hypoparathyroidism and one patient with autoimmune hypoparathyroidism, all of them with suboptimal control under the standard treatment with calcium and calcitriol supplements or calcium gluconate infusion, are presented. They were all started on teriparatide or PTH (1–84), and all of them showed a diminishment of symptoms and were able to maintain normocalcemia without parenteral calcium despite a reduction of oral treatment. This article highlights the effectiveness and safety of hormonal replacement treatment in difficult to manage hypoparathyroidism and provides evidence which justifies its off-label prescription in the case of teriparatide. We consider that this treatment should be considered in cases in which standard treatment fails to reach adequate therapeutic goals.

COVID-19 has a wide range of symptoms reported, which may vary from very mild cases (even asymptomatic) to deadly infections. Identifying high mortality risk individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus through a prediction instrument that uses simple clinical and analytical parameters at admission can help clinicians to focus on treatment efforts in this group of patients. Data was obtained retrospectively from the electronic medical record of all COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the Albacete University Hospital Complex until July 2020. Patients were split into two: a generating and a validating cohort. Clinical, demographical and laboratory variables were included. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to select variables associated with in-hospital mortality in the generating cohort. A numerical and subsequently a categorical score according to mortality were constructed (A: mortality from 0% to 5%; B: from 5% to 15%; C: from 15% to 30%; D: from 30% to 50%; E: greater than 50%). These scores were validated with the validation cohort. Variables independently related to mortality during hospitalization were age, diabetes mellitus, confusion, SaFiO2, heart rate and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) at admission. The numerical score defined ranges from 0 to 13 points. Scores included are: age ≥71 years (3 points), diabetes mellitus (1 point), confusion (2 points), onco-hematologic disease (1 point), SaFiO2 ≤ 419 (3 points), heart rate ≥ 100 bpm (1 point) and LDH ≥ 390 IU/L (2 points). The area under the curve (AUC) for the numerical and categorical scores from the generating cohort were 0.8625 and 0.848, respectively. In the validating cohort, AUCs were 0.8505 for the numerical score and 0.8313 for the categorical score. Data analysis found a correlation between clinical admission parameters and in-hospital mortality for COVID-19 patients. This correlation is used to develop a model to assist physicians in the emergency department in the COVID-19 treatment decision-making process.

Aims MODY (maturity onset diabetes of the young) is a group of well-defined diseases clinically characterised by onset before 25 years of age that does not require insulin treatment (at least initially) to prevent the formation of ketone bodies and autosomal dominant inheritance. Despite the importance of accurate classification, it is not always simple to catalogue the diagnosis of a young patient with diabetes, and genetic studies are often improperly used. Methods We describe the clinical features of patients negative for MODY2 and MODY3 and compared them to patients positive for these subtypes. Results All patients with MODY3 had been diagnosed before 25 years of age and required drug therapy for blood glucose control. MODY2 patients were diagnosed at the first laboratory workup either incidentally or as part of gestational diabetes screening. The clinical description of the 19 patients negative for MODY2 and MODY3 showed that only two patients presented a clinical picture consistent with MODY3 and one patient with MODY2. Conclusions Clinical features can be used for early exclusion of a MODY2 or MODY3 diagnosis and may reduce the need for genetic testing.

Introduction Bariatric surgery using the duodenal switch procedure is considered to be one of the most effective treatments for achieving weight loss and decreasing comorbidity in patients with morbid obesity. However, this procedure may be associated with various nutritional deficiencies that should be known and adequately managed. Objectives To assess weight loss and the occurrence of nutritional deficiencies in morbidly obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery using a duodenal switch procedure. Patients and methods One hundred and twenty-eight morbidly obese patients underwent a duodenal switch procedure at Hospital General Universitario in Albacete. Weight changes and the most important nutritional deficiencies occurring after surgery were recorded. Results Median follow-up time was 30 months (interquartile range, 18 months). Body weight markedly decreased, with mean body mass index (BMI) decreasing from a preoperative value of 52.9 ± 7.7 kg/m2 to 30.8 ± 5.2 kg/m2 18 months after surgery. Percent excess weight loss (%EWL) was 81.4 ± 16.4% in this period. Weight loss slowed down subsequently, reaching its lowest value 30 months after surgery (%EWL 82.1% ± 16.8, BMI 30.2 ± 4.3 kg/m2) and tended to stabilize in patients with longer follow-up times. The most significant nutritional deficiencies requiring replacement therapy were found in some micronutrients such as iron (42.9%), zinc (38.3%), vitamin A (55.5%), and vitamin D (57.8%), amongst others. Conclusions Duodenal switch is a very effective surgical procedure for treating morbidly obese patients because it allows them to achieve a significant and sustained weight loss. Close lifetime monitoring is required in these patients because of the high prevalence of nutritional deficiencies during follow-up.

The aim of our study was to describe and evaluate the clinical and metabolic characteristics of patients with MODY-3, MODY-2 or type 2 diabetes who presented I27L polymorphism in the HNF1alpha gene.The study included 31 previously diagnosed subjects under follow-up for MODY-3 (10 subjects from 5 families), MODY-2 (15 subjects from 9 families), or type 2 diabetes (6 subjects) with I27L polymorphism in the HNF1alpha gene. The demographic, clinical, metabolic, and genetic characteristics of all patients were analyzed.No differences were observed in distribution according to sex, age of onset, or form of diagnosis. All patients with MODY-2 or MODY-3 had a family history of diabetes. In contrast, 33.3% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and I27L polymorphism in the HNF1alpha gene had no family history of diabetes (p0.05). No differences were observed in body mass index, prevalence of hypertension, or microvascular or macrovascular complications. Drug therapy was required by 100% of MODY-3 patients, but not required by 100% of MODY-2 patients or 16.7% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and I27L polymorphism in the HNF1alpha gene (p0.05).Occasional difficulties may be encountered when classifying patients with MODY-2, MODY-3 or type 2 diabetes of atypical characteristics, in this case patients who present I27L polymorphism in the HNF1alpha gene.

Rhabdomyolysis may be secondary to trauma, excessive muscle activity, hereditary muscle enzyme defects and other medical causes. Primary hyperaldosteronism is characterised by hypertension, hypokalemia, suppressed plasma renin activity, and increased aldosterone excretion. Rhabdomyolysis is not common in primary hyperaldosteronism. We report here a 42-year-old woman presenting with rhabdomyolysis as heralding symptom of primary hyperaldosteronism. We also carried out a search of the literature to identify all cases of rhabdomyolysis as the first-recognized expression of a primary hyperaldosteronism. Sixteen cases met the criteria for inclusion. When rhabdomyolysis occurs in a patient with hypokalemia and metabolic alkalosis, primary hyperaldosteronism has to be suspected: if confirmed, an aldosterone-producing adenoma is the most probable cause.