ESPE Abstracts

Background: Spatial navigation is an essential human skill that helps individuals track their changes in position and orientation by integrating self-motion cues. Meta-analyses indicate that males, on average, perform better than females on a number of spatial tasks. Sex steroids, mainly androgens, modulate the remodeling of synapses in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, a limbic brain area with critical influence on spatial and contextual memory. Androgen...

Background: In 2017, the Endocrine Society published guidelines for the endocrine treatment of gender dysphoria/ gender incongruence. Adolescents who meet diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria undergo pubertal suppression using gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs (GnRHa) and induction of puberty with gender-affirming hormonal therapy. Blood pressure (BP) monitoring prior to and during treatment with GnRHa in transgender adolescents is recommended. This r...

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and risk factors of Adrenal crisis (AC) events in children with Adrenal insufficiency (AI) and to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment for preventing AC.Methods: Children diagnosed with AI between 1990 and 2017 and treated with glucocorticoids at four pediatric endocrinology units in Israel were studied. Data were retrieved retrospectively from the patients’ files and they included demographic factors (age...

Background: Standard assays for serum cortisol measurements determine total cortisol (TC) concentrations but not the unbound biologically active serum free cortisol (sFC). Measurement of TC would be greatly influenced by alteration in cortisol-binding globulin (CBG) concentrations. It is, therefore, important to determine sFC levels when CBG levels are either decreased or increased.Objective and hypotheses: To determine basal and glucagon-stimulated sFC ...

Background: Mixed gonadal dysgenesis (MGD) is the second most frequent cause of XY disorders of sex development (DSD). Genotype is either X/XY or XY, while the phenotype ranges from partial to complete gonadal dysgenesis, and from female to male external genitalia. Müllerian remnants are present in these patients because of insufficient or untimely foetal secretion of Müllerian inhibiting factor (MIF).Aim: To assess the therapeutic policy of ph...

Background: The QT interval, corrected for sex and heart rate (QTc), measures the duration of the cardiac action potential and can indicate the risk of arrhythmias. The QT interval is typically longer in women compared to men; a phenomenon often attributed to estrogen's effects. However, conflicting data exist regarding the effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) and gender-affirming hormonal treatment (GAHT) on QT intervals and dispersi...

Background: Isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) is a relatively common disorder. Current diagnostic protocols require a brain MRI of the hypothalamus and the hypophysis after establishment of the diagnosis, with the aim of identifying structural defects and specifically rule out an underlying space-occupying lesion. An MRI scan is costly and requires general anesthesia in young children. Data on the contribution of brain MRI in diagnosing children with I...

Context: Non-classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (NCCAH) diagnosed in childhood, whether treated or untreated, could pose an increased risk of obesity and metabolic derangements in adolescence and early adulthood. Both sustained hyperandrogenism and chronic glucocorticoid therapy may affect body composition. However, little is known about the body composition of subjects with NCCAH and its contribution to the development of adverse metabolic outcomes. <...

Context: Given the importance of sex hormones in metabolic regulation, dynamics in body composition and cardiometabolic alterations may occur in transgender persons receiving gender-affirming hormone (GAH) therapy.Objectives: Our aim was to explore the association between muscle-to-fat ratio (MFR) and the risk for metabolic syndrome components in transgender youth.Methods: In 71 tr...

Context: Higher frequency of atypical gender identity, non-heterosexual fantasies and sexual relationships, and cross-gender role behavior has been reported in females with the more severe salt wasting form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Data on these aspects and quality of life (QOL) among the milder, more prevalent form, the non-classic CAH (NCCAH) is scarce.Objective: To assess gender identity, gender role, ...