ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Chronic urticaria (CU) affects about 0.3% of pediatric subjects worldwide. Most cases have not identifiable triggers and are classified as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). Etiopathogenesis is complex and the role of thyroid diseases has been widely studied. Indeed, subjects with CSU are held to often have autoimmune disorders, including autoimmune thyroid diseases. This study aims to analyze the possible association of thyroid autoimmunity in...

Introduction: Non-nutritional rickets forms are often unrecognized. A late diagnosis could negatively affect the outcome. The aimof this study is to identify peculiar clinical and biochemical signs at the onset of non-nutritional rickets to promote early diagnosis.Materials and Methods: A retrospective monocentric observational study was conducted on a sample of outpatients consecutively evaluated at the pediatric endocr...

Background: Recent studies suggest that osteocalcin (OC) promotes glucose and lipid metabolism via ACAM, integrin αVβ3, GLUT1 and GLUT8 expression, directly affecting adipocytes. OC represents a link between bone and glucose metabolism; it stimulates insulin and stimulates pancreatic β-cells proliferation through Gprc6a receptor. Low levels of OC were observed in adult patients with Type 2 DM suggesting an association with glucose into...

Background: Recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy is a long-term injection treatment that can be burdened by poor adherence. Although adherence rates are usually good in childhood, children and adolescents can be particularly stressed by daily injections, resulting in a low quality of life (QoL).Objectives: To assess the degree of adherence and stress related to daily rhGH treatment based on data reported by pa...

Introduction: Iron deficiency anemia is the most common form of anemia in pediatric age. It affects 20.1% of children aged 0-4 years old and 5.9% of children aged 5-14 years old in the Western World with profound implications for the growth. Dietary changes and iron supplementation may be crucial. This study aims to assess the correlation between growth and iron deficiency in children and the effects of ferrous iron treatment on the auxological parameters....

Introduction: The short stature homeobox-containing gene, SHOX, encodes a homeodomain transcription factor responsible for a significant proportion of long-bone growth. Growth impairment is a common manifestation in SHOX deficient patients (SHOXD), with variable degrees of height disablement. The growth promoter treatment of SHOXD patients consists in the administration of recombinant human GH (rhGH). In Italy, the allowed formulation of rhGH (somatropine, Hum...

Background: Management of subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) in infancy is still controversial. According to the European Guidelines for Congenital Hypothyroidism (CH), in case of TSH levels between 6 and 20 µUI/ml, both levothyroxine (L-T4) therapy and a wait-and-see approach can be considered.Aim: to describe the evolution of SH diagnosed in newborns recalled by neonatal screening (TSH values ≥7µUI/ml)....

Background: Osteogenesis imperfecta / Ehlers–Danlos (OI/EDS) overlap syndrome is a rare and recently described disorder of connective tissue, characterized by mutation of COL1A1 (17q21.33) or COL1A2 (7q21.3) genes, involved in alpha-1 and alpha-2 chains of type 1 collagen synthesis. Patients with OI/EDS overlap syndrome could show a phenotype characterized by features of both osteogenesis imperfecta (bone fragility, long bone fractures, blue sclerae, sho...

Objectives: To describe the auditory phenotype and dynamics of hearing thresholds in patients with Turner Syndrome (TS).Patients and Methods: Cross-section study evaluating the hearing thresholds in 246 TS patients (age range 4-44 yrs). Patients were divided into three age groups: Group 1 (79 TS, age range 4.0-12.9 yrs); Group 2 (109 TS, age range 13.0-25.9 yrs,) and Group 3 (66 TS, age range 26.0-44.9 yrs,). Pure tone a...

Objectives: To investigate prognostic markers (age, initial hearing level, karyotype, chronic hormonal therapies, and presence/absence of a mid-frequency dip influence) for hearing loss (HL) in Turner syndrome (TS).Design: Longitudinal cross-sectional and retrospective study.Study Population: 61 TS females (age range 4 - 45 yrs), diagnosed by cytogenetic analysis (49,2% monosom...