ESPE Abstracts

Background: There is a paucity of information on the utilisation of hospital services by children and adolescents with adrenal insufficiency (AI) and hypopituitarism.Objective and hypotheses: To determine the number of episodes of hospitalisation in children with adrenal insufficiency (AI) and hypopituitarism in Australia, and to analyse trends in these admissions.Method: An analysis of all admissions to Australian hospitals in pat...

Background: Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is a rare disorder in the paediatric population. Patients are at risk of an adrenal crisis (AC), which comprises hypotension, acute abdominal symptoms, reduced consciousness, hypoglycaemia, hyperkalaemia and hyponatremia. Immediate administration of parenteral hydrocortisone is essential to prevent AC progression but delays may occur when health attendants are unaware of the underlying AI diagnosis. Medical jewellery is a...

Background: An adrenal crisis (AC) is a life-threatening complication of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Despite modern therapies, children with CAH still present with symptomatic adrenal insufficiency (AI) and AC.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of the study was to determine the spectrum of symptoms and signs of AI in children with diagnosed CAH who were admitted to hospital for an acute illness, as well as to evaluate the use of stress dosing an...

Background and Aims: For years Georgia belonged to a iodine deficiency endemic region, though as a result of a long-term actions aimed at improving the iodine status the country today is a non-iodine deficient region. For this reason it was decided to study present iodine status of newborns and their mothers leaving in the capital of Georgia, which is no longer non-iodine region.Materials and Methods: In total 87 newborn...

Introduction: The prevalence of paediatric Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is increasing, contributed by rising incidence of obesity worldwide. Paediatric T2DM is a progressive disease with increased risk of complications and morbidities. Despite recent research, many aspects such as its pathophysiology and optimal management remain unknown.Aim: To characterise the cohort of T2DM patients across 2 large tertiary paediatric diabet...

Background: A 10 year old girl with a background history of severe autism and developmental delay presented with significant and rapidly progressive asymmetrical breast enlargement accompanying her relatively rapid progress through puberty. There was associated tissue breakdown exacerbating her discomfort and leading to increasing problems with anxiety and behaviour.Objective and hypotheses: To explore the aetiology of the huge breast development and the...

Background: The melanocortin-4-receptor (MC4R) plays a key role in body weight regulation. Hypothalamic activation of MC4R reduces food intake and increases energy expenditure. Mutations in the MC4R gene lead to the most common cause of monogenetic obesity. More than 150 different mutations are currently known. Their prevalence in obese subjects differs between 0.2 and 5.8%, depending on ethnicity, age and grade of obesity of the analysed cohort. Impact on phenotype a...

Background and Aims: Children with Down's syndrome (DS) are at increased risk of autoimmune conditions including type 1 diabetes (T1D), coeliac and thyroid disease. We previously examined the clinical and immunogenetic characteristics of these conditions in children with DS. An earlier age-of-onset of diabetes was observed compared with children with T1D from the general population despite having decreased frequencies of the established genetic susceptibil...

Background: Currently, data on the diagnostic yield of targeted gene panels using next generation sequencing (NGS) in children with short stature of undefined aetiology (SSUA) are limited. EPIGROW (ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT00710307) was a prospective European epidemio-genetic study in which a targeted NGS panel including 69 genes associated with short stature (e.g. primordial growth disorders and skeletal dysplasias) was performed in 263 patients and 263 controls. In these pat...

Background: Diencephalic syndrome (DS) is a rare disorder of severe emaciation classically associated with infantile Hypothalamochiasmatic low-grade gliomas (HCLGGs) and GH excess. However, diagnostic criteria remain undefined and published literature includes non-specific tumour-related cachexia. In a large optic pathway LGG cohort (n=166), we have previously demonstrated that DS independently predicts multiple tumour progressions and severe endocrine morbidity.<...