ESPE Abstracts

Background: A one-month girl was referred to our unit for hypocalcemia. She was the first child of healthy non-consanguineous parents. Her family history was unremarkable except a miscarriage in the mother and oligoasthenospermia in the father that justified a medically assisted reproduction. She was born eutrophic at term after a pregnancy marked by a moderate gestational diabetes. On day 3, a routine neonatal screening revealed a severe asymptomatic hypocalcemia (total calci...

Background: Children and adolescents with chronic conditions are at increased risk of secondary osteoporosis. In adult patients, long-term anticoagulation (LTA) including Vitamin K antagonist (VKA) treatment is associated with lower bone mineral density and hip fractures. In children and adolsescent, risk factors for impaired skeletal health and the role of LTA on bone metabolism during the vulnerable phase of linear bone growth remain poorly defined.<p cl...

Designing monomeric dual or triple agonists based on glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 with glucagon, and/or glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) are promising novel approaches for anti-obesity drugs tackling different weight-regulatory pathways, albeit such developments continue to suffer from significant gastrointestinal illnesses. Our own studies have focused instead on the combination of GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) with neuropeptide Y1- and Y2-receptor (Y1...

Background: Leptin, primarily secreted by adipocytes, is a pivotal signal of the body's energy status and exhibits pleiotropic effects. Homozygous mutations in the leptin gene which result in defective synthesis, release or bioactivity, cause intense hyperphagia and early-onset severe obesity, along with multiple metabolic, hormonal, and immunological abnormalities. In vitro and animal model studies suggest that leptin plays a role in linear growth. So far...

Short stature is diagnosed when height is significantly below the average of the general population for that person’s age and sex. To elucidate the factors that modify disease severity/penetrance in short stature, we have studied a three-generation family with SHOX deficiency. We have found that the retinoic acid degrading enzyme CYP26C1 is a modifier for SHOX deficiency phenotypes towards the more severe clinical manifestations (Leri-Weill dyschondrosteosis) and confirme...

Background: Depending on age, needs and preferences in insulin therapy strongly differ between children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D).Objective and hypotheses: To analyse trends in insulin regimen and type of insulin used over the last two decades in three age-groups of pediatric patients with T1D from Germany/Austria.Method: 63 967 subjects (<18 year of age) with T1D documented between 1995 and 2014 from the &#145...

Background: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) encompasses a group of autosomal recessive disorders which lead to impairment of steroid biosynthesis in the adrenals and gonads. 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD) is the most common form of CAH (95%), followed by 11β-hydroxylase deficiency (11OHD) and 3β-dehydrogenase steroid dehydrogenase type 2 deficiency (3bHSD2). LC–MSMS based steroid analysis has become an increasingly important method for steroid analyses i...

Background: Early-onset severe obesity due to leptin deficiency typically results from a defect of leptin production or secretion due to mutations in the leptin gene. Recently we described a new form of leptin deficiency caused by bioinactivity of the hormone and associated with high circulating leptin levels (New England Journal of Medicine 2015 372 48–54).Method: Serum leptin was measured by ELISA. The leptin gene was seq...

Background: Short stature may be a source of social and affective stress in children and their parents, and thus impact negatively on their quality of life (QoL). Treatment by GH may improve QoL through normalisation of height.Objective: To evaluate height-specific QoL in short stature children after 1 year of GH treatment.Methods: Prospective study. Inclusion criteria were: having started GH treatment at Hôpital Necker-Enfant...

Background: Brain abnormalities like cerebral midline malformations (CMM) can be detected by fetal sonography. CMM with neonatal hypopituitarism may cause severe hypoglycemia.Case presentation: We report about three cases of term eutrophic newborns, which all presented with severe neonatal hypoglycemia despite prenatally diagnosed CMM. All three patients were born vaginally and were immediately breastfed after normal postnatal adaptation. In the first ca...