ESPE Abstracts

Background: Recently, patients with severe obesity have been described due to functional leptin deficiency. This new entity is characterized by high immunoreactive levels of circulating leptin (Lep), but a reduced bioactivity of the hormone due to defective receptor binding (N Engl J Med 2015;372:48–54). Since these patients can be successfully treated with human recombinant leptin (metreleptin), a diagnostic tool to detect functional leptin deficiency is needed.<p cl...

Introduction: Adrenocortical tumors are very rare in children, with a prevalence of just 0.3 cases/million/year. Autonomic hormone production by adrenal cortical tumors may cause peripheral precocious puberty.Case report: A 4-year-old boy was presented by his parents because of pubertal behavior with aggressive features and a significant increase in the size of the penis. The parents also noticed a strong growth spurt and sweat odor. The boy had a good g...

Introduction: Standard dose for GH deficient children is 0.025 mg/kg per day given subcutaneously once daily. Inborn panhypopituitarism is a special subset of GH deficiency. Its management is difficult because several hormones need to be replaced. We present three patients with perinatal onset panhypopituitarism.Case reports: Case 1 is a 7-year-old boy who had hypoglycaemic seizure with reanimation due to circulatory arrest shortly after birth. Panhypopi...

Background: Type 1 diabetes may have an influence on concentration, attention and behaviour. These effects are relevant, as they may affect school performance and later career options for paediatric diabetes patients.Objective and hypotheses: This study examined attention, concentration and behavioural difficulties in diabetic children aged 5–13 years and their association with hypoglycaemic episodes and HbA1c.Method: 48 child...

Background: In 2017 the American Academy of Pediatrics has introduced a new guideline (AAP 2017) to diagnose arterial hypertension in children, as the blood pressure thresholds for adults had been lowered before. There is a controversy about these new reference levels as other societies have not followed these recommendations. We studied the impact of the new AAP 2017 guideline on prevalence of arterial hypertension (HTN) in children with Type 1 diabetes melli...

Introduction: Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a congenital disorder of the bone and mineral metabolism. It is based on mutations in the ALPL gene, which codes for tissue-unspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSAP). Methods:The casuistic of 3 children with heterozygous ALPL mutation are presented. The patients were identified by laboratory data screening for reduced AP activity at the Children's Hospital of the University Hospital Freiburg....

Objectives: GH deficiency (GHD) and small for gestational age (SGA) status are associated with cardiovascular risks. We therefore investigated antiatherogenic effects of GH.Methods: Subfractions of LDL and HDL, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were measured at baseline, after 8 and 52 weeks of GH treatment in 51 short children born SGA (n=33) or with GHD (n=18).<p cla...

Background: Pseudohypoaldosteronism type I (PHA1) is a rare disease of mineralocorticoid resistance (MR). Neonatal manifestation leads to life-threatening dehydration due to massive salt-loss, acidosis and frequently, failure to thrive. Two clinically and genetically distinct forms exist, namely systemic and renal PHA1 caused by mutations in the subunit genes (SCNN1A, SCNN1B, SCNN1G) of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and mineralocorticoid recep...

We are in an exciting and interesting time, when pediatricians and reproductive endocrinologists across the globe rise to the challenge of providing fertility services for people with a history of gonadotoxic diseases. Indeed, developments in numerous medical fields have improved long-term survival rates for many diseases that strike children and young adults. However, to survive is no longer enough. The emphasis is shifting, to enable people to live a life as normal as possib...

Aims: The golden standard to characterize pubertal maturation is the analysis of steroid hormones in the blood. The aim of the investigation was to assess whether the analysis of salivary steroids is similarly able to characterize male pubertal development.Methods: The investigation included 165 normal boys (mean age 12.7±2.8 years, mean body mass index 19.6±4.2 kg/m2). Pubic hair stages were stratified by Tanner and testicular volum...