ESPE Abstracts

Background: The activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis during the first months both in males(M) and females(F) is named as minipuberty. Urinary gonadotropins (uGn) represent an unexpensive and non-invasive method of assessing pubertal development and they have recently been used also for studying minipuberty.Aims of the study are: 1) to describe the urinary hormonal pattern (uLH, uFSH, testosterone – uT, oestra...

Background: Growth hormone (rGH) treatment is an approved growth promoting therapy in children born small for gestational age (SGA) without spontaneous catch-up. SGA infants may be born either full-term or premature. Prematurity is an additional risk factor for adult short stature. Premature children born SGA may potentially be affected by combination of the effects of prematurity and SGA status. There are only few reports on premature SGA children treated wit...

Background: In order to prevent virilization in CAH female fetuses, physicians have during the last thirty years used the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEX) as a therapeutic approach administered during early pregnancy. Due to the fact that treatment has to be started before the genotype of the fetus is known, seven out of eight treated fetuses will be subjected to high doses of DEX during early embryogenesis without benefit. Therefore, negative side effects cannot b...

Background: Diffuse congenital hyperinsulinism in infancy (CHI-D) mainly arises from mutations in KATP channel genes. In addition, there are also several reports of increased cell proliferation in CHI-D. We hypothesised that the higher rates of proliferation in CHI-D are as a consequence of failure to terminate proliferation in the neonatal period.Objective and hypotheses: To test this we examined the proliferative index (PI) of CHI-D tissue a...

Background: The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased dramatically in the last decades and accounts for a significant increase in morbidity and mortality in adulthood.Objective and hypotheses: To determine the prevalence of 25-hydroxyvitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in overweight and obese children and adolescents.Method: 350 (n=350) children and adolescents (153 males (M), 197 females (F)) were recruited to ...

Background: The congenital form of congenital multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies (cMPHD) is rarely differentiated from the acquired type. cMPHD is due to impaired production of several pituitary hormones, caused by mutations in the pituitary transcription factors genes: PROP1, POU1F1 (PIT1), HESX1, LHX3, LHX4. It includes short stature, delayed puberty, cognitive impairment, obesity and metabolic abnormalities.Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate i...

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: Foramen magnum stenosis (FMS) is a life-threatening complication in children with achondroplasia (ACH) which may require cervicomedullary decompression (CMD). There is no evidence if FMS and CMD affects growth in children with ACH.Aim: To evaluate the impact of FSM and CMD surgery on anthropometric measurements in children with ACH.Methods: Sixty-five patients with ACH ...

In a randomized open-label phase 3 trial in 62 children (1–12 years) with X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) (NCT 02915705), switching from conventional therapy (oral phosphate plus active vitamin D) to burosumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting fibroblast growth factor 23, significantly improved serum phosphate concentration, rickets, lower-extremity deformities, growth, mobility, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) at 64 weeks. Children in Europe, USA, Canada, and Australia wh...

Children diagnosed with adrenocortical tumors (ACT) have variable prognosis depending on disease presentation at diagnosis. Available therapeutic options render excellent outcome for a subset of patients, but limited improvement in the survival of those diagnosed with non-localized/advanced disease. ACT DNA methylation was recently demonstrated to be a robust and independent prognostic biomarker. Aiming to identify potential therapeutic targets for these children, we compared ...