ESPE Abstracts

Background: Obesity in females is often associated with metabolic complications and hyperandrogenism but the role of adipose tissue (AT) in androgen synthesis remains unclear.Aims/Objectives: Employing human subcutaneous and visceral AT and cultured adipocytes, we studied whether AT could be a source of androgens promoting hyperandrogenism in lean and especially in obese females.Methods</st...

Triple A syndrome (AAAS) is a rare, incurable, recessive disorder, characterised by achalasia, alacrima, adrenal failure and a neurodegenerative phenotype. The AAAS gene encodes ALADIN, is a nuclear pore complex (NPC) protein necessary for nuclear import of DNA protective molecules, important for redox homeostasis. ALADIN’s role is not fully characterised: its discovery at the centrosome and the endoplasmic reticulum suggests a role outside the NPC. To date, the ...

Introduction: Lockdown measures following the COVID-19 pandemic are shown to have greatly affected lifestyle behaviours and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of children. The impact on children with severe obesity has not yet been described. Aim of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on eating behaviours, physical activity (PA), screen time, and HRQoL of children (including adolescents) with severe obesity....

Background: Birth weight (BW) is often used as a proxy for gestational age (GA) by studies on preterm birth. Recent data indicate that the terms very-low-birth-weight (VLBW; BW <1500 g) and very preterm (VP; GA <32 weeks) birth are not equivalent with regard to perinatal outcomes and postnatal growth up until final height. It is unknown whether the differences between these terms could be extended to long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes.Objectiv...

Background: Preterm newborns are at risk of becoming transiently hypothyroxinaemic, which has been associated with neurodevelopmental impairments in childhood. It is not known whether these associations persist into adulthood.Objective and hypotheses: We studied the relation between transient hypothyroxinaemia of prematurity and IQ, neuromotor functioning and problem behaviour at young adult age.Method: This was a prospective study...

Background: The C19MC locus microRNA gene cluster is imprinted in the placenta. Imprinted genes control prenatal development and placental functions, and are epigenetically regulated. The factors that affect the DNA methylation status of C19MC regulatory region are unknown, as is the impact of this differential methylation on the offspring’s body size.Objectives: To study in humans 1) the association of placental C19MC DNA...

In children with X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH), excess circulating fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) causes hypophosphatemia with consequent rickets, skeletal deformities, and impairments in growth and mobility. Compared to continuation with conventional therapy (oral phosphate and active vitamin D [Pi/D]), switching to treatment with burosumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody against FGF23, showed significantly greater improvement in phosphate homeostasis, rickets sever...

Introduction: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is associated with long-term health problems. However, little is known about co-morbidities and their onset in children and young persons (CYP).Objective: To establish the health status of CYP with CAH across the United Kingdom.Methods: A multi-centre prospective study recruited 102 patients with 21-hydroxylase deficiency targeting...

Background: Children conceived after assisted reproductive technology (ART) with frozen embryo transfer (FET) are more often born large-for-gestational age (LGA) while children born after fresh embryo transfer (fresh-ET) are at risk of being small-for-gestational age (SGA). LGA or SGA children are at increased risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life. The long-term cardio-metabolic health of children born after ART is scarcely explore...

Introduction: Glucocorticoid treatment remains a challenging aspect in the management of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Current strategies for monitoring treatment are suboptimal and rely largely on frequent blood tests, which are traumatising in children and young persons (CYP). Recent evidence indicates a crucial role of 11-oxygenatedC19 androgens in the pathogenesis of CAH.Aim: To explore the use of 11-oxygenat...