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Endocrine Abstracts (2019) 67 O55 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.67.O55

1Department of Endocrinology, Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM) and NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Churchill Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; 2Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.


Objective: Currently, 2–3% of the population of the UK and US receive glucocorticoid (GC) therapy. Significant adverse effects are not confined to chronic use; recurrent short-course administration is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The efficacy of GC therapy is not in doubt but data about the cumulative dose responsible for adverse effects during GC treatment are still lacking. The aim of this study was to test the impact of 7 days of 10 or 15 mg of Prednisolone on glucose metabolism in healthy male volunteers.

Methods: Sixteen healthy male volunteers were recruited from the Oxford Bio Bank and divided into 2 groups as following: 6 volunteers received 10 mg of Prednisolone and 10 volunteers received 15 mg of Prednisolone for 7 days. All participant underwent low dose hyperinsulinaemic euglycaemic clamp (HEC), before (pre) and after (post) treatment. The main outcome misure was the M-value gathered from the HEC.

Results: Age, BMI and fasting blood glucose were not different between the two groups at baseline. After one week of prednisolone 10 or 15 mg, no differences were found in delta (Δ=post-pre) fasting glucose (FG) (median ΔFG15mg 0.15±036 nmol/l vs ΔFG10mg 0.15±36 nmol/l, P=0.635). However, M-value was significantly reduced in patients taking 15 mg of prednisolone (median ΔM15mg −2.5±2.0 mg/kg/min vs ΔM10mg −0.4±1.3 mg/kg/min, P=0.016).

Conclusions: In this small cohort of healthy male volunteers, we demonstrated that GC treatment is associated with a worsening of insulin sensitivity through a dose-dependent effect. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings in larger cohort of patients.

Volume 67

7th ESE Young Endocrinologists and Scientists (EYES) Meeting

European Society of Endocrinology 

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