KARACHI, May 1: Experts addressing the third, 2-day, national symposium of Pakistan Endocrine Society on Saturday deliberated upon different hormonal diseases inflicting people pertaining to different age groups and gender.

Dr Javed Akhtar discussed the issue of infertility and reminded that it was affecting 10 per cent of the population.

He recommended early therapy and rational use of hormones in the treatment of infertility.

15-20 per cent of infertile couples can be treated through appropriate application of hormone therapy, he said mentioning that infertility was described as having no children after 12 months of marriage.

Dr Lubna Zubairi spoke about the need of calcium replacement in women and informed that women after menopause suffered from osteoporosis which was easily preventable.

She said that more than 20 per cent of women above the age of sixty suffered from this problem which led to early fracture.

“More than 5000 of those inflicted with osteoporosis die within one year of hip fracture,” the speaker maintained.

Dr Abdul Basit from Baqai University referred to importance of exercise and diet in the prevention of diabetes and presented a recently compiled data revealing surge in the incidence of obesity among local kids putting them at risk to different ailments.

According to him a survey conducted in school age children established that less than seven per cent of them were having the right kind of food.

Dr Khurram Shahid and Asim Hasan from Liaquat National Hospital reflected upon hospital based management of diabetes.

According to them 30 per cent patients with type II diabetes were admitted with foot complications.

At least 20 per cent of our health budget is spent on treating diabetes and its related complications; they said mentioning that Pakistan was projected to be ranked the fourth leading country with diabetes in the next 10-15 years.

Dr Abbas Raza and Dr Zakir Alvi discussed thyroid cancer and its treatment options.

Dr Jamal Raza from NICH spoke about the problems of delayed puberty in children.

He said that about 3-5 per cent of normal children may not enter puberty till the age of 14 years. However, any delay should be seen by a physician to rule out the possibly treatable disorder.—APP