ESPE Abstracts

Aim: The majority of children born small for gestational age (SGA) demonstrate spontaneous catch-up growth in height by the age of two years; however, approximately 10-15% of SGA newborns are at risk of having subnormal growth and persistent short stature (PSS).Method: We evaluated clinical, anthropometric, and laboratory characteristics of the 86 children with PSS who were born SGA.Results...

Introduction: The use of long-term oral corticosteroid in DMD is associated with a range of side effects including secondary adrenal insufficiency. The updated international care consensus (2018) recognizes this important issue and recommends emergency plans to be in place.Aim: This online UK-wide patient survey aims to determine the advice and education given for sick day dosing plans and the impact of the COVID-19 pand...

Background: Animal studies have reported that exposure to synthetic glucocorticoids (sGCs) may lead to inter- and transgenerational effects on offspring phenotype. However, many of these studies are poorly designed, do not account for possible non-epigenetic confounds, and cannot determine the mechanism(s) by which gamete epimutations are induced.Objectives: Firstly, to determine whether developmental exposure of mice to...

Short stature is a frequent reason for referral to pediatric endocrinologists and this phenotype has been associated with a large number of gene variations during the last decades, highlighting its complex and heterogeneous etiology. We evaluated the detection rate of the analysis of a selected gene panel in a cohort of patients with short stature defined as height below -2 standard deviations (SD). Overall, 134 patients were included in the study: 73 with GH deficiency (GHD),...

Background: Precocious puberty is considered a stressful condition leading to psychosocial and behavioral problems in children. Many factors are involved in these changes such as early body changes which make them feeling strange and cause the sense of isolation from social groups. On the other hand, GnRHa treatment can affect psychological functioning of children with CPP through several pathways. There is controversy in the results of studies dealing with th...

Introduction: A 5 month old boy is admitted to his local hospital with increased work of breathing secondary to a viral upper respiratory tract infection. The admitting team found pubic hair on examination, with otherwise normal infant genitalia, prompting a screen for precocious puberty. A low random cortisol was found at 15nmol/L. Following this, he had an inadequate response to a Synacthen test (peak Cortisol 190 nmol/L) demonstrating adrenal insufficiency....

Achieving adequate glycaemic control in children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is essential to reduce incidence and progression of microvascular and macrovascular complications. However, factors that influence glycaemic control remain to be understood. The present study aimed to evaluate clinical, personal, genetic and eating behaviour characteristics underlying glycaemic control in T1D. 325 T1D individuals aged 6 and 20 years and with at least 1 year of disease duration have bee...

Introduction: The genetic investigation of tall stature (TS) is routinely indicated only in children with clinical suspicion of a specific syndrome associated with TS. After ruling out an endocrine disorder, the remaining tall children mostly receive a clinical diagnosis of “idiopathic” (ITS) or “familial” tall stature (FTS). The aetiology of their TS remains unknown.Aims: To elucidate genetic cau...

Background: Hyperphagia, or pathologic insatiable hunger, and early-onset obesity are prevalent clinical features of Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), a rare genetic disorder. While hyperphagia and obesity have broad impacts on individuals with BBS and their caregivers, the extent of this burden is not well characterized.Methods: This multicountry cross-sectional survey of caregivers of individuals with BBS was conducted to q...

Introduction: The diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is complex, involving the combination of auxological, laboratory, and radiological findings. This includes growth hormone (GH) stimulation tests, which are done to confirm the diagnosis. It has been discussed that these tests have low specificity, potentially leading to false positive results. Therefore, children with GHD are regarded as a heterogeneous group with varied causes of short stature. Ne...