ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a known complication of obesity. It is still unclear whether gender and puberty influence the prevalence of MS in children and adolescents.Objective: Aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of gender and puberty on the prevalence of MS and on cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) in obese children and adolescents.Patients and Methods: 1437 obese patients (age 9.7 (2.2–17.9) ys; 660 Mal...

SHOX haploinsufficiency (SHOX-D) is a cause of disharmonic short stature and a possible genetic cause of idiopathic short stature also in familial cases. We describe clinical, hormonal and genetic characteristics of patients with SHOX-D haploinsufficiency, followed and treated in the period 2014–2017, in a single Italian centre. The Rappold score was used to screen short children, to select those who needed a genetic analysis of SHOX gene by MLPA and sequencing. We select...

Introduction: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 11 beta hydroxylase deficiency, is an autosomal recessive pathology that represents 5 to 8% of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The predominant symptoms of this disorder are androgen excess’ features, including masculinization of female newborns and precocious puberty in male children. Approximately, two thirds of patients also have hypertension, which may or may not be associated with mineralocorticoid excess, hypokale...

Introduction: Paediatric brain tumours in the sellar-suprasellar region (SSR) are often associated with central diabetes insipidus (CDI), either at diagnosis caused by the tumour itself or during follow-up as consequence of treatments.Aims: To define the timing of CDI onset and radiological features on brain MRI in our cohort.Methods: We retrospectively analysed paediatric patients...

Background: Melanocortin-2 receptor (MC2R) is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor family. MC2R is selectively activated by adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH); the binding of MC2R and ACTH activates the heterotrimeric G protein complex, and in turn stimulates steroidogenesis. Pathogenic variants in the MC2R gene result in glucocorticoid deficiency-1 (GCCD1), an autosomal recessive disorder in which unresponsiveness to ACTH leads to deficient secretion of cortisol and adr...

Background: In pediatric patients with adrenocortical tumors (ACT), morbidity and mortality rates have been extensively evaluated. However, there are almost no data on the late consequences of early exposure to high androgen levels on pubertal development and on final height (FH) in these patients.Objective: To investigate the impact of early exposure to androgen excess on gonadotropin-dependent pubertal development and on final height (...

Homozygous mutation of Insulin receptor (INS-R) gene cause an extremely rare disease called Leprechaunism, and induce intrauterine growth restriction with poor postnatal growth, hyperinsulinemia, postprandial hyperglycaemia, pre-prandial hypoglycaemia, typical facies, lack of subcutaneous fat, thick skin, hypertrichosis, macrogenitosomia in males. The survival is severely compromised in these patients. Treatment with diazoxide could ameliorate glycaemic control, however these ...

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) occurs in approximately 1:2000–1:3000 newborns in Italy. Lowering of the TSH cut-off was the most important factor contributing to the increase of CH incidence in Italy. The aim of this study is the determination of the prevalence of CH in northwest Sicily, evaluated by the single screening centre of the Children Hospital ‘G. Di Cristina’, ARNAS, Palermo. From January 2013 to December 2017, 79.699 newborns were screened testing TSH...

Background: Precocious puberty is defined as the development of secondary sexual characteristics before the age of 8 years in girls and 9 years in boys. This condition results from a constant and complex interplay between predisposing genes and environmental factors. To date, the molecular analysis are all focused on reproductive-endocrine disorders such as Kallmann syndrome and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, while the genetic bases of pubertal timing are still unclear.<p ...

Background: 3-M syndrome is an autosomal recessive primordial growth disorder characterized by severe prenatal and postnatal growth retardation, normal mental development, unusual facial features and skeletal abnormalities. Mutations in the CUL7, OBSL1 and CCDC8 genes are responsible for this syndrome. In literature a modest response to GH treatment in 3M children is reported without a significant improvement in the final height, suggesting a picture...