ESPE Abstracts

Background: About 85–90% of children born small for gestational age (SGA) experience a catch-up growth that occurs mostly during the first year of life and results in a full stature recovery by the age of 2. The remaining 10–15% do not undergo compensatory growth, achieving - if untreated - an adult height approximately 20 cm below their peers.Objective: The aim of this prospective one-center study was to investigate the relation between bone m...

Background: Say-Barber-Biesecker-Young-Simpson syndrome (SBBYSS) is a rare genetic condition caused by de novo mutations in the KAT6B gene, which encodes lysine acetyltransferase 6B, an enzyme involved in chromatin modification. The clinical phenotype is characterized by global developmental delay and multiple congenital abnormalities, including a number of distinctive facial features (ptosis, blepharophimosis, and mask-like appearance), skeletal involvement (...

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is diagnosed in up to 60% of overweight children. Diagnosis and management of NAFLD is challenging due to the lack of non-invasive imaging biomarkers. Ultrasound (US) is the most widely non-invasive method used to identify liver steatosis, however it has low sensitivity to detect mild steatosis and to quantify hepatic fibrosis. Liver Elastography (LE) is a non-invasive methodology used to evaluate hep...

Objectives: The increased incidence of childhood obesity and related non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has determined the need to identify a non-invasive technique to diagnose and monitor NAFLD. Two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) has emerged as a reliable, non-invasive, tool to evaluate liver tissue elasticity in clinical practice. Aims of this study were to longitudinally evaluate 2D-SWE changes in relation to weight loss, metabolic prof...

Background: due to the well-known association between intestinal permeability and obesity, zonulin has been recently proposed as an indicator of intestinal mucosal barrier integrity. Nevertheless, data about zonulin are extremely scarce in pediatric age.Objectives: aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between serum and faecal zonulin levels with body mass index (BMI) and biochemical markers of insulin re...

Background: SET domain-containing 5 (SETD5) is a member of the protein lysine-methyltransferase family that regulates gene expression. SETD5 gene mutations cause disorders of the epigenetic machinery which determinate phenotypic overlap characterized by several abnormalities. Recently, SEDT5 gene variants have been described in patients with KBG and Cornelia de Lange syndromes. Pathogenic variants of SETD5 gene are primarily associated with intellectual delay ...

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: 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...

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)....

Introduction: Rapidly rising rates of childhood obesity (CO) are a current problem, and European and national data confirm the concern. CO comorbidities occur early and tend to persist into adulthood, negatively affecting long-term health. There is an urgent need to implement CO prevention programs, starting in the early years of life. In Southern Italy, an innovative health project, “EpPOI: Educate to Prevent Childhood Obesity,” has been establish...