Clinical features of type 1 diabetes in older adults and the impact of intermittently scanned continuous glucose monitoring: An Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) study

AIMS

To evaluate the clinical features and impact of flash glucose monitoring in older adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) across age groups defined as young-old, middle-old, and old-old.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Clinicians were invited to submit anonymized intermittently scanned continuous glucose monitoring (isCGM) user data to a secure web-based tool within the National Health Service secure network. We collected baseline data before isCGM initiation, such as demographics, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) values from the previous 12 months, Gold scores and Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS2) scores. For analysis, people with diabetes were classified as young-old (65-75 years), middle-old (>75-85 years) and old-old (>85 years). We compared baseline clinical characteristics across the age categories using a t test. All the analyses were performed in R 4.1.2.

RESULTS

The study involved 1171 people with diabetes in the young-old group, 374 in the middle-old group, and 47 in the old-old group. There were no significant differences in baseline HbA1c and DDS2 scores among the young-old, middle-old, and old-old age groups. However, Gold score increased with age (3.20 [±1.91] in the young-old vs. 3.46 [±1.94] in the middle-old vs. 4.05 [±2.28] in the old-old group; p < 0.0001). This study showed reduced uptake of insulin pumps (p = 0.005) and structured education (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating [DAFNE] course; p = 0.007) in the middle-old and old-old populations compared to the young-old population with T1D. With median isCGM use of 7 months, there was a significant improvement in HbA1c in the young-old (p < 0.001) and old-old groups, but not in the middle-old group. Diabetes-related distress score (measured by the DDS2) improved in all three age groups (p < 0.001) and Gold score improved (p < 0.001) in the young-old and old-old populations but not in the middle-old population. There was also a significant improvement in resource utilization across the three age categories following the use of is CGM.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated significant differences in hypoglycaemia awareness and insulin pump use across the older age groups of adults with T1D. The implementation of isCGM demonstrated significant improvements in HbA1c, diabetes-related distress, hypoglycaemia unawareness, and resource utilization in older adults with T1D.

Assessing the androgenic and metabolic heterogeneity in polycystic ovary syndrome using cluster analysis

INTRODUCTION

Some but not all women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) develop the metabolic syndrome (MS). The objective of this study was to determine if a subset of women with PCOS had higher androgen levels predisposing them to MS and whether routinely measured hormonal parameters impacted the metabolic syndrome score (siMS).

METHODS

We included data from a discovery (PCOS clinic data) and a replication cohort (Hull PCOS Biobank) and utilized eight routinely measured hormonal parameters in our clinics (free androgen index [FAI], sex hormone-binding globulin, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), androstenedione, luteinizing hormone [LH], follicular stimulating hormone, anti-Müllerian hormone and 17 hydroxyprogesterone [17-OHP]) to perform a K-means clustering (an unsupervised machine learning algorithm). We used NbClust Package in R to determine the best number of clusters. We estimated the siMS in each cluster and used regression analysis to evaluate the effect of hormonal parameters on SiMS.

RESULTS

The study consisted of 310 women with PCOS (discovery cohort: n = 199, replication cohort: n = 111). The cluster analysis identified two clusters in both the discovery and replication cohorts. The discovery cohort identified a larger cluster (n = 137) and a smaller cluster (n = 62), with 31% of the study participants. Similarly, the replication cohort identified a larger cluster (n = 74) and a smaller cluster (n = 37) with 33% of the study participants. The smaller cluster in the discovery cohort had significantly higher levels of LH (7.26 vs. 16.1 IU/L, p < .001), FAI (5.21 vs. 9.22, p < .001), androstenedione (3.93 vs. 7.56 nmol/L, p < .001) and 17-OHP (1.59 vs. 3.12 nmol/L, p < .001). These findings were replicated in the replication cohort. The mean (±SD) siMS score was higher in the smaller cluster, 3.1 (±1.1) versus 2.8 (±0.8); however, this was not statistically significant (p = .20). In the regression analysis, higher FAI (β = .05, p = .003) and androstenedione (β = .03, p = .02) were independently associated with a higher risk of SiMS score, while higher DHEAS levels were associated with a lower siMS score (β = -.07, p = .03) CONCLUSION: We identified a subset of women in our PCOS cohort with significantly higher LH, FAI, and androstenedione levels. We show that higher levels of androstenedione and FAI are associated with a higher siMS, while higher DHEAS levels were associated with lower siMS.

Phenotypic Diversities of Four Populations of Clarias Gariepinus (Siluriformes, Clariidae) Obtained from Ogun and Ondo State Waterbodies in South-Western Nigeria

The study determined the variation in the morphological and meristic features among four populations of Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822 obtained from Owena Dam and River Oluwa in Ondo State and Rivers Omo and Ogbere in Ogun State, both in Nigeria. A total of ninety five (95) and one hundred and twenty (120) fish specimens collected from Ondo and Ogun states respectively were measured using standard procedures and the results were analysed using Analysis of variance and multivariate analyses. The results obtained from the ANOVA and Principal Component Analyses of Clarias gariepinus from the four populations revealed heterogeneity for most of their characters. Therefore, the morphological differences between the wild African catfish found in Ondo and Ogun state populations could be linked to genetic differences or environmental factors or a combination of both factors. Hence, this study concluded that the populations are different which could imply high genetic diversity if molecular marker techniques are employed in further studies.

Ortner's syndrome in association with mitral valve prolapse

The case of an 83-year-old woman with a history of hypertension, valvular heart disease, atrial fibrillation, and cardiomegaly is presented. The patient also had progressive hoarseness of her voice and intermittent dysphagia. Ear, nose, and throat examination revealed left vocal cord paralysis. Echocardiography revealed severely dilated left (LA) and right atria (RA), moderate mitral regurgitation, severe tricuspid regurgitation, and prolapse of both these valves. A review of literature of Ortner's or cardiovocal syndrome is presented. Ortner's syndrome due to mitral valve prolapse has not been reported previously.