Scientific Statements

Considering Sex as a Biological Variable in Basic and Clinical Studies

MARCH 2021/ENDOCRINE REVIEWS: Sex differences in baseline physiology and associated mechanisms form the foundation for understanding sex differences in diseases pathology, treatments, and outcomes. The purpose of this Statement is to highlight lessons learned, caveats, and what to consider when evaluating data pertaining to sex differences, using 3 areas of research as examples; it is not intended to serve as a guideline for research design.

The Science of Obesity Management

APRIL 2018/ENDOCRINE REVIEWS: The prevalence of obesity, measured by body mass index, has risen to unacceptable levels in both men and women in the United States and worldwide with resultant hazardous health implications. Genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors influence the development of obesity, and both the general public and health professionals stigmatize those who suffer from the disease.

Diabetic Microvascular Disease

DECEMBER 2017/JCEM: Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes adversely affect the microvasculature in multiple organs. Our understanding of the genesis of this injury and of potential interventions to prevent, limit, or reverse injury/dysfunction is continuously evolving.

Obesity Pathogenesis

AUGUST 2017/ENDOCRINE REVIEWS: Obesity is among the most common and costly chronic disorders worldwide. Estimates suggest that in the United States obesity affects one-third of adults, accounts for up to one-third of total mortality, is concentrated among lower income groups, and increasingly affects children as well as adults.

Screening for Endocrine Hypertension

APRIL 2017/ENDOCRINE REVIEWS: Hypertension may be the initial clinical presentation for at least 15 endocrine disorders. An accurate diagnosis of endocrine hypertension provides clinicians with the opportunity to render a surgical cure or to achieve an optimal clinical response with specific pharmacologic therapy.

Adverse Health Consequences of Performance-Enhancing Drugs

JUNE 2014/ENDOCRINE REVIEWS: Despite the high prevalence of performance-enhancing drug (PED) use, media attention has focused almost entirely on PED use by elite athletes to illicitly gain a competitive advantage in sports, and not on the health risks of PEDs.

Compounded Bioidentical Hormones in Endocrinology Practice

APRIL 2016/JCEM: Custom-compounded bioidentical hormone therapy (HT) has become widely used in current endocrine practice, which has led to unnecessary risks with treatment.

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals 2

DECEMBER 2015/ENDOCRINE REVIEWS: The Endocrine Society's first Scientific Statement in 2009 provided a wake-up call to the scientific community about how environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) affect health and disease. Five years later, a substantially larger body of literature has solidified our understanding of plausible mechanisms underlying EDC actions and how exposures in animals and humans—especially during development—may lay the foundations for disease later in life.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

OCTOBER 2015/ENDOCRINE REVIEWS: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogeneous and complex disorder that has both adverse reproductive and metabolic implications for affected women. However, there is generally poor understanding of its etiology.

Health Disparities in Endocrine Disorders: Biological, Clinical, and Nonclinical Factors

SEPTEMBER 2012/JCEM: Several themes emerged in the statement, including a need for basic science, population-based, translational and health services studies to explore underlying mechanisms contributing to endocrine health disparities.

Nonskeletal Effects of Vitamin D: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement

JUNE 2012/ENDOCRINE REVIEWS: Significant controversy has emerged over the last decade concerning the effects of vitamin D on skeletal and nonskeletal tissues. The demonstration that the vitamin D receptor is expressed in virtually all cells of the body and the growing body of observational data supporting a relationship of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D to chronic metabolic, cardiovascular, and neoplastic diseases have led to widespread utilization of vitamin D supplementation for the prevention and treatment of numerous disorders.

Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy

JULY 2010/JCEM: Our objective was to provide a scholarly review of the published literature on menopausal hormonal therapy (MHT), make scientifically valid assessments of the available data, and grade the level of evidence available for each clinically important endpoint.

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

JUNE 2009/ENDOCRINE REVIEWS: In this first Scientific Statement of The Endocrine Society, we present the evidence that endocrine disruptors have effects on male and female reproduction, breast development and cancer, prostate cancer, neuroendocrinology, thyroid, metabolism and obesity, and cardiovascular endocrinology.