ESPE Abstracts

Objective: There is no agreement about which index of adiposity and/or body composition is the most accurate in identifying the metabolic syndrome (METS). The aim of our study was to compare the accuracy of the different indexes in order to recognize the most reliable.Study Design: We evaluated 1332 obese children and adolescents (778 females and 554 males), aged 14.4 ± 1.8 yrs., Body Mass Index (BMI) standard devia...

Clinical history and symptoms: XX, 9.37 years, was referred to our Clinic for obesity and psycho-motor delay. Family history: Fibromyalgic mother, two maternal cousins with psycho-motor delay, paternal uncle with epilepsy and intellectual disability. Born at term from caesarean section for placental detachment after physiological pregnancy (birth weight g 1900, SGA). In the first years of life she had psychomotor retardation, episodes of affective spasms, nocturnal enuresis, a...

Background: Short stature is a main feature of Noonan syndrome (NS). Although rhGH is commonly used in NS patients, it is not known whether a defect in the secretion of GH influences the response to rhGH therapy.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of rhGH treatment in NS patients, according to the presence of GH deficiency at the baseline.Method: We retrospectively collected data ...

Background: Subclinical hypothyroidism is a common finding in Down syndrome (DS) patients and transition towards overt hypothyroidism can occur, but there are no predictor factors to identify patients that will need replacement therapy later in life.Objective and hypotheses: This is a retrospective cohort study on a population of DS paediatric patients. This study was designed to evaluate possible early predictive features of hypothyroidism development.<...

Background: HbA1c was recommended as diagnostic tool in adults at risk for diabetes. In obese patients, HbA1c shows an association even with other features of metabolic syndrome. However, its value in pediatric population for this purpose has yet to be established.Material and methods: We determined HbA1c (IFCC method) in 307 overweight/obese children and adolescents (age 11.4±3.2; range 3.0–17.9 and BMI 27.9±4.7; range 20.4–47.6) val...

Background: Noonan syndrome (NS) is a congenital polymalformative disorder caused by aberrant up-regulated signalling through RAS GTPase. Although NS is associated with hematologic malignancies, no predisposition for neuronal tumors was reported so far.Objective and hypotheses: We describe two cases of young patients with NS and dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNET). This is the first case series reporting a rare type of intracranial tumor in NS....

Background: The prevalence of dysglycaemia is high among overweight children and adolescents. Current screening criteria with fasting laboratory values have low sensitivity to detect IGT. Fasting triglycerides (TG) >1.17 mmol/l has been proposed as a criterion for screening obese children and adolescents at risk for IGT.Aims and objectives: We aimed to compare the performance of different screening criteria for detecting IGT in obese and overweight c...

Background: Response to rhGH treatment is variable among GH deficiency (GHD), GH insensitivity and several intermediate conditions.Aims and objectives: To compare baseline parameters and response to rhGH treatment in eight diagnostic categories of patients with short stature.Methods: We selected 125 prepubertal children presenting at least 2 years of rhGH treatment (mean 5.29 years, range 2–15.6 years), hormonal and clinic par...

Background: Adult subjects with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) have low Bone Mineral Density (BMD) and are at risk of osteoporosis. Several observations suggest that peak bone mass is usually achieved by late adolescence, in the presence of adequate gonadal hormone concentrations. Consequently, the altered bone characteristics of PWS patients may be related to inadequate sex steroid levels during pubertal development.Aim: To investigate BMD in PWS females d...

Background: Response to rhGH treatment is extremely variable in pediatric growth disorders; predictors of the response are not yet clearly determined, due to disomogeneity of studied cohorts.Aims and objectives: To investigate the correlation between clinical parameters and height gain after the 1st year of rhGH treatment and at the last visit in eight different aetiologies of short stature, with the aim of identifying predictors of response to rhGH trea...