Endocrine Disorders in a Specialized Hospital in Guyana

Background: Endocrine diseases are characterized by hormonal alterations (excess or defect). Due to the low prevalence (less than five case 5 / 10 000 inhabitants), a large number of them, qualify to be classified as rare diseases such as those of organs like: hypophysis, adrenal glands, gonads as well as some congenital thyroid diseases. Others like Diabetes are considering almost epidemic.

Objective: To define the types of diseases observed in the only Endocrinology Clinic in Guyana.

Methods: The diagnoses of all patients who attended the endocrinology clinic of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017, were analyzed.

Results: During the one year of this study, approximately 639 patients attended the endocrinology clinic. Of this, 178 patients had thyroid-related diseases with 80 of these having thyrotoxicosis, 49 having hypothyroidism followed by 110 patients with diabetes mellitus. Pituitary tumors were also diagnosed with 2 of acromegaly and 6 of prolactinomas. Cases of hypoadrenalism (n = 5), hypogonadism (n = 4), and pheochromocytoma (n = 6) were not rare; gonadal disease were also found in 17 patients.

Thyroid disease was the most frequent diagnosis followed by diabetes mellitus. New emerging endocrine disorders such as hyperlipidemia (n = 1) were rare. Some persons attending the clinic were also noted to be overweight /obese however this was not the primary reason for joining the clinic. Traditional diseases such as Sheehan Syndrome have become rare due to improvements in Obstetric care.