Endocrine Society, June 1-4

The annual meeting of the Endocrine Society (ENDO 2024) was held from June 1 to 4 in Boston, attracting approximately 7,000 participants, including clinicians, academicians, allied health professionals, and others interested in endocrine and metabolic disorders. The conference highlighted recent advances in the diagnosis and management of obesity, endocrine disorders, diabetes, and growth hormone and thyroid diseases.

In one study, Alexander Turchin, M.D., of Brigham and Women”s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues found that it is important to reduce the weight of individuals with overweight/obesity to decrease their risk for heart attack and stroke, and they noted this should be addressed at the earliest age possible.

Using data from the Nurses” Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, the authors evaluated individuals with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 kg/m² at least once during a 10-year period (1990 to 1999) to determine how having overweight/obesity impacted cardiovascular risk (heart attack or stroke) between 2000 and 2020.

The researchers found that individuals who were exposed to excess weight for a prolonged period of time had an increased risk for heart attack and stroke. In addition, prolonged exposure had a greater impact on heart attack and stroke risk than someone”s weight at a single point in time. The increase in risk for heart attack and stroke from the prolonged excess weight was only observed in younger individuals (younger than 50 years for women and younger than 65 years for men).

“The key conclusion is that a person”s weight at a given point in time is not the final “sentence” — one can “appeal,”” Turchin said. “What matters is what is done about it next. I see this as a glass half-full: even if someone has overweight/obesity at some point in time, they can reduce their risk for heart attack/stroke if they lower their weight over time.”

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In another study, Gabriel Castano, M.D., of the Texas Children”s Hospital in Houston, and colleagues found that 64 percent of adolescents with obesity and 32 percent of adolescents with type 2 diabetes are denied insurance coverage for glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists.

The authors evaluated 599 adolescents (average age, 15 years) being prescribed a GLP-1 receptor agonist and found that less than 70 percent of GLP-1 receptor agonists were approved for children with type 2 diabetes and less than 40 percent were approved for weight management. Once a medication was approved, 44 percent of patients treated for obesity did not reach the full treatment dose.

“There is more than just sending a GLP-1 receptor agonist prescription when taking care of children with type 2 diabetes and weight management,” Castano said. “There are several limitations that are important to highlight: insurance approval, medication titration, medication engagement, as well as side effects.”

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