ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: The prevalence of childhood obesity is continuing to increase worldwide and has become a major health concern. There are a number of serious complications to childhood obesity with significant long-term health implications if not managed in a timely matter. These complications include type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). At presen...

Aim: We aimed to investigate the growth potential of pituitary microadenomas and cystic lesions < 10mm in children, and to evaluate how reproducible the measurements were on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).Design: Retrospective observational study.Methods: 74 children were included < 18 years at first pituitary MRI, and diagnosed with a microadenoma (microadenoma producing ACTH, GH or TSH ...

Isolated hypoaldosteronism is a rare cause of salt wasting in infancy and may be life-threatening, especially in the newborn. Isolated aldosterone deficiency results from loss of activity of aldosterone synthase encoded by CYP 11B2 gene. We reported the case of a newborn, who presented at the age of 4 weeks with severe dehydration, vomiting and hypotonia. Blood investigations showed severe hyponatremia, hyperkaliemia and metabolic acidosis. The familial history revealed a firs...

Background: Being born small for gestational age (SGA) is linked with higher systolic blood pressure (SBP). Fetuses with growth restriction (FGR) may be either SGA or appropriate size for gestational age at birth. However, it is not known which factors contributing to size at birth influence the relationship with SBP.Aim: To determine whether antenatal markers of FGR can predict the upper quartile of childhood SBP.<p...

Introduction: Pituitary imaging is important for the evaluation of hypothalamo-pituitary axis defects in patients diagnosed with childhood-onset growth hormone deficiency (CO-GHD). Published evidence shows that there is a close relationship between structural changes in the pituitary gland and growth hormone deficiency.Aim: To evaluate the relationship between clinical, laboratory and magnetic resonance imaging of the pi...

Background: Certain genetic defects in the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) axis are associated with severe primary IGF-1 deficiency (SPIGFD) and short stature. Detection of genetic defects may confirm short stature aetiology alongside clinical/biochemical features. Increlex® is a recombinant human IGF-1 (rhIGF-1) approved for children/adolescents with SPIGFD.Methods: The Increlex<...

Background: Hypoglycaemia in patients with a high concentration of insulin and low concentration of C-peptide can be secondary to administration of exogenous insulin. This often results in safeguarding measures, with significant consequences for the patient and family. We report a novel case of a patient with symptomatic hypoglycaemia. Initial results suggested high insulin and low C-peptide levels, but subsequent testing revealed a pro-insulin processing diso...

Background: Many studies have associated being born small for gestational age (SGA) [and by implication having suboptimal fetal growth (SFG)] to childhood cardiometabolic risk markers. However, not all growth-restricted pregnancies result in SGA. In the Manchester BabyGRO study, we focussed on pregnancies at risk of SFG with most babies born AGA, and using transcriptomic and metabolomic data we have identified pathways related to higher child systolic blood pr...

Treating short stature in children born small for gestational age (SGA) requires daily growth hormone (GH) injections that are burdensome for patients and caregivers. Results from REAL5 (ongoing randomised, multinational, open-label, controlled, dose-finding phase 2 trial; NCT03878446) indicate that somapacitan (0.24 mg/kg/week) has an efficacy, safety, and tolerability profile similar to daily GH (0.067 mg/kg/day) after 52 weeks of treatment in children born SGA. Predicting G...

We recently assessed systolic heart function in children from IUGR and normal control pregnancies and reported early developmental impairment of left ventricular longitudinal strain – a sensitive echocardiographic measure – during the first 3 months of life in IUGR children. In accordance with previous studies, this suggest that the increased cardiovascular risk later in life imposed by IUGR/SGA may, at least to some extent, be primary and not entirely secondary to...