ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: The clinical hallmark of male puberty is testicular enlargement ≥4 ml. While this initial sign largely depends on central reactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis along with peripheral follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) action, the attainment of voice-break, activation of sweat- and sebaceous- glands, acne as well as axillary hair development require testosterone action.Objective: To investigate the tempo...

Background: Early growth trajectories are associated with childhood BMI and fat distribution as well as adulthood type 2 diabetes. Mechanisms by which early growth determines later adiposity remain unclear, but the effect may be mediated through adipocytokines.Objective and hypotheses: We describe the association between infant growth, adolescent fat distribution and serum adipocytokines. We hypothesize that poor or rapid early growth is associated with ...

Background: The combination of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and GH deficiency is uncommon. In a previous study (1) we found that in children with T1DM and GHD with adequate adaptation of insulin dosage, the metabolic control of T1DM did not worsen during GH treatment. However, decreased catch-up growth was observed and no data on GH dose was available.Objective: To analyse first year treatment growth response and GH dosage in prepubertal patients with...

Background: Pfizer International Growth Database (KIGS) contains data of Turner syndrome (TS; N=7378) or Noonan syndrome (NS; N=613, female=224; male=389) patients who were treated with rhGH.Objective: To compare the effect of rhGH on near adult height (NAH) in TS and NS patients. We hypothesized a similar outcome in both diagnoses. Determinants of the treatment outcome in NS patients were also assessed.Patients a...

Background: Alterations in the timing or expression level of players involved in sex determination and differentiation can cause disorders of sex development, gonadal dysgenesis and germ cell neoplasms later in life. The mitosis–meiosis switch is one of the first manifestations of female sex differentiation and we hypothesise that a conflict between meiosis-inhibiting (male pathway) and meiosis-inducing signals (female pathway) is one of the possible mechanisms for disrup...

Background: Treating central precocious puberty with GnRH agonist (GnRHa) to increase height gain is well-established. Although not recommended, GnRHa have also been used in patients with IGHD at onset of puberty yet there are few data on its efficacy.Objective and hypotheses: Growth prediction models derived from KIGS (Pfizer International Growth Database) may provide an opportunity to estimate additional height gain produced by pubertal blockade.<p...

Background: Since the late 1960’s, pubertal breast staging has been based on Tanner’s classification. Appearance of glandular breast tissue may be difficult to distinguish by palpation from the surrounding subcutaneous fat tissue, especially in obese girls. To our knowledge, validation of the clinical assessment of pubertal stages by MRI quantification of glandular breast tissue has never been performed.Objective and hypotheses: i) To report no...

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to genes encoding the FSHβ subunit and FSH receptor (FSHB/FSHR) affect FSH production (FSHB c.-211G>T) and receptor sensitivity/expression in vitro (FSHR c.2039A>G & FSHR c.-29G>A). FSHR c.2039A>G, but not FSHR c.-29G>A, is associated with increased FSH levels in adult women, while there are conflicting results on F...

Background: Children with ISS have an array of causes that lead to short stature and/or poor growth velocity. Genetic causes of short stature, notably SHOX mutations, can be associated with subtle skeletal disproportion with shorter limbs, manifesting as increased sitting-to-standing height ratios or SDS.Objective and hypothesis: Children with ISS and skeletal disproportions have a diminished growth response to GH treatment compared to chi...

Background: Congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) provides a model to study the impact of sex steroid deficiency on childhood growth.Aims and objectives: We characterised growth patterns in male CHH patients with special emphasis on growth during the minipuberty of infancy.Methods: Growth charts of 38 men with CHH (28 from Finland and 10 from Denmark) were evaluated. Fifteen (39%) patients had representative length measure...