ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID19) pandemic urged to develop new vaccines to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with this disease. Recognition and report of potential adverse effects of these novel vaccines (especially the urgent and life-threatening ones) is therefore essential.Case Presentation: A 16-year-old boy presented to the Paediatric Emergency Department with polyuria (9 liters per day...

Background: Haploinsufficiency of short stature homeobox containing gene (SHOX) is one of the main monogenic causes of short stature. The phenotype of SHOX deficiency (SHOX-D) is often mild, making difficult to identify which short-statured children should be screened.Objective and hypotheses: To estimate the prevalence of SHOX-D in Italian short-statured children and to analyse their phenotype and the sensitivity of various scores and anthropometric mea...

Background: Nutrition and growth in the postnatal phase seems to have an important role for the future risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. It has been suggested that circulating levels of adiponectin in the first 2 years of life are influenced by type of feeding in small for gestational age.Objective and hypotheses: Aim of our study was to evaluate if total and multimeric adiponectin levels in obese adequate for gestational age...

Background: Bone age (BA) is commonly used in pediatrics to define skeletal maturity for medical and non-medical purposes. Normal range is represented by 2 standard deviations (SDs) above and below the mean. A BA greater than ±2 SDs from the chronological age (CA) is considered abnormal. BA in achondroplasia (ACH) has not been fully characterized; calculation is challenging given difficulties in comparing x-rays with standard radiographs if using the Greuli...

Background: Differences in sexual development (DSD) are rare diagnoses, which affect the chromosomal, anatomical or gonadal sex differentiation. Although comprehensive counseling of patients and parents/carers is necessary to ensure a positive coping with the diagnosis and a well-informed decision-making, standardised programmes are lacking. Empower-DSD is a government-funded project, which developed an age-adapted multidisciplinary education programme to impr...

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is the most common neonatal endocrine disorder, with an incidence of 1:3000 neonates, and one of the most frequent preventable causes of mental retardation worldwide. Most (65%) cases of primary permanent CH are due to thyroid dysgenesis (TD). However, a genetic cause is identified in less than 5% of CH due to DT.Methods: We performed WES (Whole Exome Sequencing) for siblings with childhood-onset TD and we analy...

Background: ACH is the most common short-limbed skeletal dysplasia, affecting between 1 in 15,000 to 1 in 30,000 live births. Children and adults with ACH have disproportionate short stature, with a final height of approx. 131 cm for males and 124 cm for females. People with ACH are prone to significant co-morbidities, including obstructive sleep apnea, chronic otitis media with conductive hearing loss, spinal stenosis, and a propensity towards obesity. In som...

Introduction: Monogenic defects in the leptin-melanocortin pathway result in hyperphagia and severe, early-onset obesity. Knowledge of the natural history of anthropometric parameters in patients with monogenic obesity is essential for diagnosis. However, reliable data on early childhood weight and height development in affected patients are lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the history of height, weight, and BMI development in early childhood in a Europea...

Background: Achondroplasia (ACH), the most common short-limbed skeletal dysplasia, is characterized by impaired endochondral ossification resulting from gain-of-function pathogenic variants in the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) gene, a negative regulator of endochondral bone growth. People with ACH are at risk for several significant co-morbidities, including brainstem compression due to foramen magnum stenosis, sleep-disordered breathing, chronic...

Background: XLH is a rare, genetic, life-long disease caused by PHEX pathogenic variants. It is associated with progressive accumulation of musculoskeletal features and symptoms that evolve across the patient’s lifetime if untreated. Although the disease is well characterised in children and adults, there are limited data describing the health outcomes and experiences of adolescents, particularly at end of skeletal growth (EOSG), a crucial phase during t...