The association between maternal serum Vitamin D levels and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus among Filipino patients / Journal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies

@#Objectives. To determine the association between low maternal serum vitamin D and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among Filipino women in St. Luke’s Medical Center, Quezon City. Methodology. A cross-sectional study involving pregnant women at outpatient clinics in a tertiary hospital in the Philippines. Simultaneous testing for fasting blood sugar, 75g oral glucose tolerance test and serum vitamin D was done. Participants were classified as GDM versus non-GDM, and normal versus low serum vitamin D. Univariate and multivariate statistics were done to determine relationship between vitamin D and GDM. Results. Of 211 included women, 198 (93.8%) had low vitamin D levels, and 56 (26.5%) had GDM. Vitamin D was significantly higher in the GDM group (21.0±8.1 vs 18.8±5.3 ng/mL, p=0.0189). The proportion of women with low vitamin D levels was significantly higher among those without GDM (96.1% vs 87.5%, OR=0.28, p=0.029]. After adjusting for age, parity, history of GDM and pre-pregnancy BMI, no significant association was observed (adjusted OR=0.66, p=0.522). No correlation was seen between vitamin D and FBS (r=0.28, p=0.095), 1-hour post-75 g OGTT (r=0.26, p=0.643), and 2-hour post-75 g OGTT (r=0.28, p=0.113). Conclusion. There was an association found between maternal serum vitamin D level and GDM in the univariate analysis, but none was evident after adjusting for possible confounders. The unanticipated high prevalence of low vitamin D levels among pregnant Filipinos needs to be verified in future studies.

The sleeping giant: An atypical case of a giant Pituitary Adenoma presenting as Acromegaly with minimal symptoms of mass effect / Journal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies

Introduction@#This is a case of patient with giant pituitary adenoma (GPA) presenting with acromegalic features, minimal symptoms of mass effect who underwent surgical resection via transcranial approach with minimal surgical morbidity.@*Case@#A 40-year-old female presented with typical acromegalic features over 14 years, occasional mild frontal headaches and blurred vision. She had elevated growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Cranial MRI revealed a 6.4x7x5.5 cm lobulated pituitary mass with cystic degeneration, areas of necrosis with mass effect on several intracranial structures. Excision via craniotomy reduced mass size to 5.9x5.8x4.7 cm. Histopathology revealed a mixed GH- and prolactin-secreting pituitary adenoma. She was maintained on bromocriptine and underwent radiotherapy. Repeat IGF-1 levels remained elevated but symptoms did not progress@*Conclusion@#This is a case of a patient with GPA with minimal symptom of mass effect, with no hormonal improvement post-surgery and radiotherapy. Ideally, a multi-staged surgery can be done with optimization of medical management. In the absence of these medications locally and reluctance of patient for re-surgery, the team opted to monitor tumor size, hormone levels and maximize management of co-morbidities.