ESPE Abstracts

Background: XLH is a rare, genetic, life-long disease caused by PHEX pathogenic variants. It is associated with progressive accumulation of musculoskeletal features and symptoms that evolve across the patient’s lifetime if untreated. Although the disease is well characterised in children and adults, there are limited data describing the health outcomes and experiences of adolescents, particularly at end of skeletal growth (EOSG), a crucial phase during t...

Background: Milk supplementation increases serum IGF-I concentrations in healthy children and the effect is attributed to elevation of insulin and/or direct effects of milk proteins. Low serum IGF-I concentrations are common among children with short stature and may be associated with GH deficiency but poor nutrition/malabsorption may also contribute. Effects of nutritional supplementation on serum IGF-I is poorly studied in short children.Aim: To invest...

Background: The Easypod Connect Observational Study (ECOS) observational study follows children with GHD, SGA and Turner syndrome receiving r-hGH therapy for up to 5 years, with interim analyses each year. The easypod electromechanical auto-injector device enables accurate, real-world digital records of patients’ adherence to rhGH to be collected for evaluation.Objective and hypotheses: The primary objective of ECOS is to evaluate the level of adher...

Background: Social media usage is rapidly changing and advancing methods of communication, both personally and professionally. To bridge the theory practice gap, nurses need to be involved in research, both conducting, reading and disseminating. Currently, no journal exists for endocrine nurses.Objective and Hypotheses: To explore endocrine nurses’ experiences in conducting, reading and disseminating research, and whether social media would be an ap...

Introduction: The phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) hamartoma tumour syndrome (PHTS) groups related multi-system genetic disorders linked to germline mutations in the PTEN gene. There is an increased risk of thyroid cancer in PHTS, with some cases arising in childhood. Annual surveillance for thyroid cancer by ultrasound is recommended.Case report: A 15 year old female was referred to Paediatric Endocrinology by Clinical Genetics fo...

Background: GH insensitivity (GHI) encompasses growth failure, low serum IGF-1 and normal/elevated serum growth hormone (GH) (basal level >5 μg/L and/or peak on provocation testing >10 μg/L). In a significant number of children the molecular cause is unknown.Objective: To investigate the genetic etiology of GHI in a cohort of children by candidate gene (CGS) and whole exome (WES) sequencing.Methods: About 109 pati...

Background: Mutations in BRAF are a rare cause of cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome (CFC). Recently, BRAF mutations have been reported in papillary craniopharyngiomas, but have not been described in patients with other hypothalamo-pituitary abnormalities. We describe three patients with CFC and septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) associated with heterozygous BRAF mutations.Cases: Patients presented in childhood with clinical features of ge...

Introduction: We report two siblings presenting with pre-pubertal gynaecomastia and macro-orchidism, who were later diagnosed with Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome (PJS) secondary to a STK11 gene variant. Importantly neither child fulfilled the clinical criteria for diagnosis at presentation, with no muco-cutaneous pigmentation nor gastrointestinal symptoms.Case report: Sibling 1 was referred to Paediatric Endocrinology aged 4 years with ...

Background: Gonadal dysfunction and fertility impairment are some of the many clinical manifestations described among patients with Fanconi anemia (FA). Many who receive hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) suffer additionally from infertility due to gonadal damage from their preparative regimen. The effect of HSCT on gonadal insufficiency and fertility potential among children with FA is largely unknown.Methods:</stron...

Introduction: The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health state that adolescents with significant obesity require access to evidence-based weight management services (WMS). Due to the known benefits of exercise and physical activity (PA) on physiological and psychological outcomes increasing exercise and PA should form a cornerstone of any WMS for adolescents living with obesity. However, supervised exercise interventions face challenges within a clinica...