ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Childhood obesity shows increasing numbers worldwide and presents as a global health issue due to multiple metabolic comorbidities. About 1 % of adolescents with obesity develop type 2 diabetes (T2D), however little is known about the genetic and pathophysiological background in young age. Genome-wide association studies in adults revealed genes with increased diabetes risk, most of them regulating insulin secretion. The objective of this study w...

Background: Subjects born small for gestational age (SGA) are at higher risk for metabolic, hormonal and reproductive problems later in life and about 2–10% of children born SGA do not catch-up in height. All these changes may influence bone mineral density (BMD).Aim: To evaluate hormonal profile and BMD in adolescents born SGA in comparison to their peers born appropriate for gestational age (AGA).Methods: 103 children were e...

Background: Subjects born small for gestational age (SGA) were shown to be at higher risk to later metabolic consequences but early prediction factors of changes in glucose metabolism are not clearly known.Objective and hypotheses: We aimed to investigate glucose tolerance and insulin resistance in adolescents born SGA or appropriate for gestational age (AGA) and their relationship with perinatal and postnatal factors.Method: A pro...

Background: GH promotes longitudinal growth and bone modeling/remodeling. The bone formation markers intact amino-terminal propeptide of type 1 procollagen (PINP), bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BALP), and osteocalcin reflect different stages in bone formation, i.e. proliferation with collagen synthesis, matrix maturation, and mineralization.Objective: The purpose was to study the time course of different bone formation markers during GH treatment i...

Background: GH is secreted in a pulsatile manner. The resulting GH peaks are known to be associated with growth, whereas the trough levels between the peaks are thought to be associated with metabolism in different tissues. GH trough levels were identified as a metabolically active signal in rats in the 1980th leading to differences in fat patterning with central obesity. Obese children are known to have low bone mass and bone mass is reduced in short children.<p class="ab...

Background: The importance of vitamin D for skeletal health is well established and many recent reports indicate that vitamin D deficiency is linked to chronic diseases. Vitamin D status is defined by serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), and although there is no consensus on optimal levels of 25(OH)D concentrations of 50 nmol/l (20 ng/ml) meet the requirements in 97.5% of the population. In Sweden, sun cannot synthesize vitamin D during the winter, therefore supplementation is...

Background: Due to fewer girls than boys being GH-treated, after 50yrs the knowledge about sex-differences in both GH-response and GH-responsiveness before and during puberty remains limited.Aim: To describe factors explaining growth response to GH-treatment, separately in girls and boys from GHstart to adult height (AH).Methods: Children diagnosed with IGHD/ISS/SGA from GH-SAFETY-...

Background: Type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents is a rare disease with an estimated incidence (age 0–20 years) of below 5/100 000 in Germany.Objective and Hypotheses: We hypothesize that monogenic alterations might contribute to early-onset insulin secretion defects, if islet function was challenged by obesity-associated insulin resistance.Method: We follow more than 1500 children and adolescents with obesity. Patients...

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are most relevant for morbidity and mortality in obese patients. Because metabolic complications already start in childhood obesity one may expect an early manifestation of cardiovascular disease in this group as young adults. In adults fetuin A was shown to promote adipocyte inflammation and metabolic syndrome and subsequently vascular damage.Objective and hypotheses: We evaluated the role of fetuin A in the vascular ...

Background: The hypothalamic leptin–melanocortin signalling pathway is a critical regulator of human appetite and weight regulation. Monogenetic defects in the POMC gene, the MSH ligand generating PC1 gene and the MSH receptor gene MC4R lead to severe early onset and leptin-resistant obesity. In PWS, where the function of genes such as MAGEL2 are impaired, the Magel2-/- mouse model revealed decreased POMC neuronal functioning as one c...