ESPE Abstracts

Background: Obesity has been associated with perturbations of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Scalp hair cortisol has been recognized as a reliable index of long-term cortisol concentrations.Objective and hypotheses: Aim of this study was to compare indices of HPA axis and SNS activities, such as, respectively, the salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase diurnal patterns, and their relations i...

Introduction: Exposure to chronic stress and hypercortisolism is associated with decreased leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a marker for accelerated biological aging and cardiovascular disease. Children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) are treated with glucocorticoids. The aim of our study was to investigate LTL in children with CAH and its relation with CAH subtype, daily glucocorticoid dose and treatment quality.Method...

Background: Childhood obesity is associated with advanced bone age (BA), leading to an altered growth pattern. Previous results of studies suggest that androgens, estrogens, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and insulin are responsible for this phenomenon, but results are contradictory and might be biased by confounders.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate the independent effects of estrogens, androgens, SHBG and insulin parameters on BA advancemen...

Background: Paediatric obesity is a multifactorial disease characterized by an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. In rare cases, obesity is caused by underlying medical disorders arising from disruptions in the leptin-melanocortin pathway, which regulates satiety and energy expenditure.Aim: To investigate resting energy expenditure (REE) in relation to body composition in children and adolescents with sever...

Aim: Recommendations for replacement glucocorticoids in CAH suggest a dose per body surface area (BSA) of glucocorticoids of 10-15mg/m2/day to maintain a 17-OH Progesterone (17OHP) level of 12-36 nmol/l across all ages. We used longitudinal analysis to assess whether biomarkers and dose of hydrocortisone varied with age in children within the I-CAH registry .Method: This retrospective multi-centre study, inclu...

Context: Supra-physiological exogenous corticosteroids used during the last months of pregnancy may lead to temporary neonatal adrenal suppression. Little is known about the outcome of neonates from mothers who used corticosteroids during pregnancy.Objective: The evaluation of clinical symptoms and biochemical findings of adrenal suppression in neonates from mothers using corticosteroids during pregnancy.<p class="ab...

Background: Recently, a national database has been developed to register yearly data from all children detected with CAH in the neonatal screening program from 2002 onwards. So far longitudinal data of 105 children have been registered (roughly 65% of Dutch CAH patients) to evaluate medical treatment and long-term effects in CAH. A national CAH work group developed guidelines for diagnostics and follow up in CAH.Objective and hypotheses: Aim of our curre...

Introduction: Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early spring 2020, there was a need to identify the burden of this infection on people with rare endocrine conditions. The European Registries For Rare Endocrine Conditions (EuRRECa) was launched in 2018 in collaboration with Endo-ERN, ESPE and ESE to support the needs of the wider endocrine community. The project consists of an e-reporting (e-REC) platform that allows monthly reporting of new clini...

Introduction: The diagnosis and treatment of patients with rare diseases is often difficult as most clinicians do not encounter them. Therefore, centralization and collaboration between centers of expertise is necessary. European Reference Networks (ERN’s) such as RareEndoERN provide a platform for this, with one of its main thematic groups having a specific focus on rare growth and obesity disorders. Genetic obesity encompasses a heterogeneous group of c...

Introduction: Ghrelin binds to its receptor GHSR1A, encoded by GHSR, on somatotrophs of the pituitary. Growth hormone (GH) secretion is enhanced by ghrelin binding as well as the receptor’s constitutive activity. Results from in vitro experiments, knock-out mice, and GWAS suggest that heterozygous loss-of-function of GHSR may be associated with short stature, but observations in case studies are equivocal. We aimed to better ch...