ESPE Abstracts

Background: Achondroplasia (Ach) is a rare growth disorder caused by a point mutation in the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 gene that results in dysproportionate extreme short stature and can lead to a wide range of multisystemic complications throughout the individual's life with reduced quality of life. In the past, orthopaedic and neurosurgical therapies have been developed to partially improve mobility, reduce pain and prevent neurological disabi...

Background: In patients with acid-labile subunit (ALS) deficiency, the inability to build ternary complexes results in a marked reduction of circulating total IGF1. Height reduction by heterozygosity is about 1 SD in comparison to wild type. In homozygosity or compound heterozygosity a height loss of −2 to −2.5 SD occurs. This is suggestive of a gene-dose effect. How does treatment with human GH influence height development in relation...

Introduction: Turner syndrome (TS) is a rare X-chromosomal disease, which affects one in 2500-3000 female newborns. TS is associated with a distinct cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Arterial hypertension is present in up to 50% of young TS women and closely related to the onset of aortic dilatation and dissection. The effective management of arterial hypertension can be considered as crucial to improve overall cardiovascular outcome of TS women. In the ...

Background: Several studies show impaired glucose tolerance at a certain number of years after start of growth hormone in SGA-children.Objective and hypotheses: To perform a longitudinal and cross-sectional evaluation of the oGTTs (glucose-insulin-pairs) in prepubertal GH-treated SGA-children and to evaluate if ISI and HOMA are effective surrogates for glucose tolerance and of prognostic value (0–1 year data).Method: In 81 pre...

Background: Since its introduction in 1978, assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have been widely used to treat infertility. Worldwide, over 8 million children have been conceived by ART. Literature suggests that ART-adolescents potentially display altered vascular function. However, data concerning the cardiometabolic impact on the vascular function in ART-adolescents is limited. This study aimed to investigate the effects of blood lipids and HbA1c-levels...

Background: In 2017 the American Academy of Pediatrics has introduced a new guideline (AAP 2017) to diagnose arterial hypertension in children, as the blood pressure thresholds for adults had been lowered before. There is a controversy about these new reference levels as other societies have not followed these recommendations. We studied the impact of the new AAP 2017 guideline on prevalence of arterial hypertension (HTN) in children with Type 1 diabetes melli...

Background: Treatment of pediatric obesity is challenging and especially the long-term outcome has been modest in many previous studies.Objective and hypotheses: We wanted to evaluate the efficacy of obesity treatment in specialist care and to find out factors, which have a major impact on the outcome.Methods: A total of 654 children (302 girls) aged 2–18 years treated for obesity between 2005 and 2012 in three specialist clin...

Introduction: Growth velocity is reduced in patients with GH deficiency and this may result in an increase in Body Mass Index (BMI). Treatment performed with Growth Hormone (GH) while accelerating growth velocity, might reduce BMI. The objective of this study was to evaluate BMI in patients with GHD at diagnosis, 1 y and 2 y after started treatment with GH and to compare if there is difference between the BMI of the patients with and without pituitary abnormalities.<p clas...

Background: Epidemiological evidence in Europe indicates the increasing prevalence of premature puberty, especially in girls. This may be attributed to in utero and early-life exposure to environmental estrogen-like compounds present in pesticides, plastics (bisphenol A, phtalates …) and beauty products.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of premature thelarche (PT) and central precocious puberty (C...

Background: It has been previously proposed that not all children with short stature displaying an inadequate response to tests for growth hormone (GH) secretion truly suffer from GH deficiency (GHD). Instead, amongst these, solely children with an identifiable monogenic cause of GHD or an identifiable functional or anatomical anomaly in the hypothalamic-pituitary axis should be considered GHD. The remaining patients should be defined as affected by “sho...