ESPE Abstracts

Background: An accurate prediction of final height after the first year of growth hormone (GH) treatment may help clinicians to give parents and children more realistic expectations.Objective and hypotheses: To validate two prediction models (with and without max. GH peak) for near final adult height (nFAH) by Ranke et al.Method: Height data of 142 (93 male) idiopathic GH deficient (iGHD) children, treated with GH for at l...

Background: Several definitions of poor growth response to first-year GH treatment, have been proposed based on the observed response of a large group of patients.Objective and hypotheses: Since a complete compensation of the height deficit is expected in children with GH deficiency (GHD) treated with GH, we have studied the different parameters for the first-year growth response in relation to the adult height gain in prepubertal children with iGHD....

Background/Aims: Length and weight of all children in Flanders are monitored every three years at school from the age of 3 years. The current criteria used for referral to specialized care are: height SDS < -2.5, height SDS between -2 and -2.5 SDS with a height SDS adjusted for parental height < -1.64, or a decrease in height SDS of more than 1 SDS in the past 3 years. The aim of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of the Flemish referral criter...

Background/Aim: Several criteria for the first year growth response (FYGR) to growth hormone (GH) treatment have been proposed. We explored which FYGR criteria predict best the final height outcome after GH treatment in prepubertal children with GH deficiency (GHD).Methods: Height data of 129 GHD children (83 boys) treated with GH for at least 4 consecutive years with at least 1 year before pubertal onset, were retrieved...

Background: Children with biallelic GHRHR gene pathogenic variants share a phenotype of growth failure starting in infancy and resulting in a proportionate short stature and bone age delay due to a complete isolated growth hormone (GH) deficiency. The genotype ranges from rare promotor mutations to the more frequent splicing mutations, some genotypes being specific to certain geographic areas. Diagnosis is mainly made around the age of 7 years and more often i...

Background: Despite the fact that pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) is a frequent finding in children with combined GH deficiency (CGHD), clinical data are still limited and the growth response to GH treatment has not been evaluated in comparison with CGDH with a normal stalk.Objective and hypotheses: To report the clinical and hormonal findings and evaluate the short term growth response to GH in Belgian children with congenital non-syndromat...

Background and Aim: A substantial proportion of SGA patients have a syndrome underlying their growth restriction. Most SGA cohorts comprise both syndromic (S-SGA) and non-syndromic patients (nonS-SGA) impeding delineation of the recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) response. We present a detailed characterization of the Belgian SGA cohort and analyze rhGH response based on adult height (AH).Patients & Methods: Cli...

Background and Aim: Recombinant growth hormone (GH) is reimbursed for the treatment of short stature (<-2.5 Z-score) in children born small for gestational age (SGA) without postnatal growth, aged ≥ 4 years with a height Z-score >1 below mid-parental height (MPH). We wanted to determine the current GH prescribing practices by pediatric endocrinologists (PE) for SGA related short stature and document the percentages of treated children at risk for...

Background: Since the initial clinical description of Turner Syndrome (TS), there have been notable changes in the genotypic and phenotypic presentation of the disease. Our aimis to provide an overview of the current genetic and clinical characteristics of a large Belgian cohort of girls with TS, and the evolution over the last 3 decades.Methods: We therefore analyzed the genetic and clinical data of growth hormone(GH)-t...