Australia is struggling to identify and treat a condition that is being increasingly linked to hormone disruption.
A study published in the American Journal of Endocrinology last month found that Australian endocrinologists were failing to identify the causes of the disorder.
Australian researchers found that nearly half of the patients they treated had a history of endocrine disruption, with those with higher levels of the condition showing the greatest symptoms.
“It’s not uncommon in the medical community to have a lot of patients with a lot more symptoms than the disease,” Dr Julie Gifford, chief of the Endocrine Service at the Queensland University of Technology, said.
Professor Giffords said that if the problem was diagnosed early, it could prevent a cascade of events that lead to more symptoms and higher levels.
In the US, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have launched a new program called the Endocrines for Everyone initiative, which aims to identify endocrine disorders, identify treatments and develop strategies for prevention.
The program aims to build an endocrinology network across Australia and overseas.
This new network will be a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Department of Health, and other organisations, including the Australian Endocrine Society, which provides research support.
“Endocrine disruption is a major public health problem in Australia and has a devastating impact on health,” said Dr Michael Fung, head of the National Endocrine Institute at the University of New South Wales.
Dr Giffson said the Australian system was failing to catch up with the problem.
“[We are] not being able to identify these patients early enough, and if they get to endocrinologist we’re not doing much to try and change the underlying biology of this disorder,” she said.
“What we do need to do is understand what is going on in their bodies, so that we can then treat them appropriately and appropriately.”
Dr Gufford said the government’s focus on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was not enough to treat the endocrine problems.
HRT is often prescribed to treat women with low testosterone and hormone imbalance.
It is an alternative to hormone replacement therapies and can have positive effects for some women.
If the treatment is not successful, endocrinopathies could develop, which could result in infertility.
She said HRT should only be used in a context where there was a clear indication that it was working, including in cases of severe, irreversible endocrine issues.
Despite this, Dr Giffons said the focus on HRT was a missed opportunity to help the patients with the condition.
A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinolaryngology and Metabolism found that HRT may help some endocrinopathy patients, but the data was too small to recommend any treatment.
Australia’s endocrine service has a long way to go in diagnosing and treating endocrinologic problems, and there is still a lot that is unknown about the disorder, including what the underlying cause is.
With more than 20 million Australian men and women under the age of 35, more than 2 million people have endocrinological disorders, and about two million people are on hormone blockers. ABC/AAP