ESPE Abstracts

Background: Endogenous Neonatal Cushing's syndrome (CS) is a rare condition with around 100 cases reported worldwide. Pneumocystis Jiroveci pneumonitis (PJP) is a well described, albeit rare, complication of exogenous CS (i.e. CS resulting from external glucocorticoids). The pneumonitis usually occurs following reduction of glucocorticoid dosage and is therefore thought to be triggered by an inappropriate immune reaction evident after glucocorticoids withd...

Introduction: There is no valid evidenced-based recommendation for the optimum basal insulin dose in type-1 diabetes mellitus when supplied either by continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) or multiple daily injections (MDI). We studied this previously by evaluating the dose associated with successful fasting. Another way of looking at this is by evaluating the association between basal insulin dose and HbA1c. To this end we performed a retrospective study of 89 childr...

Background: Distribution of TSH levels is not normal. This is due to physiological changes that cause temporary increases in TSH during physiological events. Several methods are used to normalize the distribution when defining normal limits.Objective and hypotheses: To compare the normal limits defined by three normalization methods vs non-normalized distribution based on a large cohort with no known thyroidal illness.Method: Data ...

Background: Leptin is suggested to be a permissive factor in the onset of puberty by signaling at the level of the hypothalamus to indicate adequate energy stores. Overweight female rats due to increased neonatal nutrition have been shown to develop puberty before normal weight rats.Objective and hypothesis: We hypothesized that this permissive effect may be due not only to increased leptin levels, but also to increased hypothalamic sensitivity to this h...

Background: Children born small for gestational age (SGA) are predisposed to metabolic abnormalities. While the therapeutic benefit of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy in improving height is widely recognised, it can affect carbohydrate metabolism, potentially inducing diabetes.Objective and hypotheses: This ongoing, prospective study aims to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of Omnitrope® (somatropin) in children ...

Aims: Historical I-CAH data shows considerable variation in the management of 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD) congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in infancy despite existence of several guidelines. Using the I-CAH registry we analysed contemporary early infancy natural history data, creating benchmarks as part of continuous quality improvement.Methods: Of 136 infants born in 2018-2023 and treated for 21-OHD CAH withi...

Background: Referrals to pediatric endocrine clinics for short stature are common. Height velocity (HV) is an essential component of the evaluation of short stature as growth deceleration often reflects an underlying pediatric endocrine diagnosis (PED). Access to previous measurements facilitates prompt calculation of HV.Objective and hypotheses: To determine availability of previous measurements at time of referral for short stature, to characterize PED...

Introduction: The growth process in children depends on GH/IGF-1. Ghrelin is stimulator of GH synthesis. Ghrelin also stimulates the orexigenic center peptides responsible for appetite. It is synthesized in the stomach, thus its secretion may be alter by gastrointestinal tract deseases. Recently, high titers of antibodies against some neuropeptides (including anti-ghrelin) have been found in indyviduals with certain microflora components, e.g. Helicobacter pyl...

Background: Sclerostin is secreted by the osteocyte and inhibits bone formation by osteoblasts and is thus a negative regulator of bone formation. In adults, sclerostin levels increase after weight loss, which may be prevented by exercise training. The effect of weight loss on sclerostin in children is unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To compare sclerostin levels in children before and after a 10 weeks stay at a weight loss camp (WLC).<p class="abst...

Background: McCune Albright syndrome (MAS) is defined by the classic triad of precocious puberty, fibrous dysplasia of bone and café au lait skin pigmentation. However, the clinical spectrum is often more variable due to mosaic distribution of the postzygotic GNAS-mutation. Hypercortisolism occurs in a minority (5%) of patients. It is most frequently caused by nodular adrenal hyperplasia and can be life-threatening. Decisions on whether clinical management should be conse...