ESPE Abstracts

Background: Prevalence and severity of obesity and associated comorbidities are increasing in adolescents. Data on neck and upper arm (UA) circumference in addition to established anthropometric measures to define cardiometabolic risk are limited to date.Methods: Data from Phase I of the EU-funded PreSTART-study (trial registration number NCT02545140) was applied. Demographic, clinical, biochemical and lifestyle data were collected in adolescent...

Introduction: Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) is a potentially life-threatening condition that requires appropriate diagnosis and treatment. The most common cause of PAI is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), but other well-established aetiologies include metabolic and autoimmune disorders, and physical damage. Mutations in more than 30 genes have now been associated with PAI, with considerable biochemical and phenotypic overlap. It is therefore importan...

Three patients from two unrelated families in Malta; one consanguineous (siblings: Patient 1, male and Patient 2, female) and one non-consanguineous (Patient 3, male), manifested hypogonadotropic hypogonadism with delayed puberty, intellectual disability, scoliosis, and ataxia with cerebellar hypoplasia on MRI. GnRH tests revealed low peak LH and FSH concentrations in the patients: Patient 1; LH 2.3 IU/L, FSH 4.4 IU/L (14.3y), Patient 2; LH 3.6 IU/L, FSH 6.4 IU/L (12.5y), Pati...

Background: Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is an inherited multisystem disorder predominantly affecting the mineralization of bones and teeth. HPP is caused by pathogenic variants in ALPL, which encodes tissue non-specific alkaline phosphatase. A major challenge in diagnosing HPP is interpreting variants in ALPL classified as variants of uncertain significance (VUS) according to ACMG/AMP criteria, creating uncertainty in patients and treating physicians resulting in d...

Background: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and long-term glucocorticoid treatment may be associated with an increased risk of developing cardiometabolic sequelae such as abnormal glucose homeostasis, hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, cardiovascular (CV) disease, obesity and osteoporosis.Objectives: To study the current practice amongst expert centres for assessing cardiometabolic outcomes in adult patients with 21-hyd...

Background: Hypercalcaemia in infants may reach extreme levels due to hyperparathyroidism, subcutaneous fat necrosis, or vitamin D intoxication. Normal values for p-parathyroid hormone and p-calcitriol prompt search for other causes.Methods: Hospital file evaluation, case report.Results: A 5½-months-old Caucasian girl of non-consanguineous healthy parents was referred due to w...

Background: Main features of the autosomal dominant form of GH deficiency (IGHD II) include markedly reduced secretion of GH combined with low concentrations of IGF-I leading to short stature.Objective and hypotheses: We report on a girl referred for assessment of short stature (−4.6 SDS) at a chronological age of 7 yr 10 mo. The GH deficiency was confirmed by standard GH provocation tests, which revealed severely reduced GH and IGF-I concentration...

Background: In Autoimmune Thyroid Disease (AITD) two types of TSH receptor antibodies (TSHR-Ab) may be distinguished: thyroid- stimulating immunoglobulin (TSI) that promotes the production of thyroid hormones and thyroid- blocking immunoglobulin (TBI) inhibiting the activity of TSH what leads contrarily to hypothyroidism.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of this study was to compare mean TSI and TBI levels in large paediatric cohort with AITD and control...

Background: A greater number of male (M) vs female (F) patients are diagnosed with GH deficiency (GHD). M have larger birth weight (BW), length and head circumference (HC) compared to F; these characteristics could contribute to subtle cephalo-pelvic disproportion and mild head trauma possibly contributing to idiopathic GHD (IGHD) and multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies (MPHD).Objective: To determine birth characteristics including mode of delivery a...

Background: Fetal skeletal bone development and mineralisation depends on placental calcium transfer. Although Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) pathway has some contribution, TRPV6 (the sixth member of the Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid family) is a recently identified receptor involved in calcium transport and is predominantly expressed in the placenta. It has not previously been linked with skeletal development disorders.Case: This infant had...