ESPE Abstracts

Background: It is well known that endocrine comorbidities occur frequently in children with cancer, especially in those with a brain tumor. In those children, increased intracranial pressure or hydrocephalus may lead to central precocious puberty. Furthermore, chemotherapy, especially alkylating agents, increases the risk for gonadal insufficiency. In this case series we describe 3 young girls with a brain tumor, who develop premature gonadotrophic activation,...

Introduction: Children with cancer are at increased risk of endocrine complications, especially children with a brain tumor. One of these late effects includes bone disorders (ranging from low bone mineral density (BMD) to osteoporosis). Children with a suprasellar Low Grade Glioma (LGG) may be especially at risk for bone problems due to exposure to multiple treatment modalities, hypothalamic dysfunction and/or decreased mobility in combination with vision los...

Introduction: Among children with short stature, some show persistent IGF-I levels <-2.0 SDS despite a normal growth hormone (GH) response in a stimulation test. This may be caused by conditions that could benefit from recombinant human GH (rhGH) therapy (e.g. GH neurosecretory dysfunction, bioinactive GH, partial GH insensitivity). Therefore, the IGF-I generation test (IGFIGT) was implemented in 2006 using a national, standardized protocol. Children with a...

Introduction: Lockdown measures following the COVID-19 pandemic are shown to have greatly affected lifestyle behaviours and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of children. The impact on children with severe obesity has not yet been described. Aim of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on eating behaviours, physical activity (PA), screen time, and HRQoL of children (including adolescents) with severe obesity....

Background: The majority of children diagnosed with idiopathic isolated growth hormone deficiency (IIGHD) show a normal growth hormone (GH) secretion (assessed by GH stimulation tests) when retested at near adult height (NAH). It appears plausible that if normal stimulated GH secretion is observed in mid-puberty, continuing recombinant human GH (rhGH) treatment may only have a minor effect on NAH. The effect on NAH has never been investigated in a prospective ...

Introduction: Ghrelin binds to its receptor GHSR1A, encoded by GHSR, on somatotrophs of the pituitary. Growth hormone (GH) secretion is enhanced by ghrelin binding as well as the receptor’s constitutive activity. Results from in vitro experiments, knock-out mice, and GWAS suggest that heterozygous loss-of-function of GHSR may be associated with short stature, but observations in case studies are equivocal. We aimed to better ch...

Background: Male preterm infants are at increased risk of neonatal mortality when compared to their female counterparts. The mechanisms explaining this male disadvantage are not fully elucidated yet.Objective and hypotheses: To compare glucocorticoid metabolite excretion in urine obtained at day 10 between male and female infants born with a very low birth weight (VLBW; i.e. <1500 g). We hypothesized that male preterm infants have impaired adrenocort...

Background: Current guidelines suggest to test obese subjects with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) for the presence of type 2 diabetes. This strategy, however, misses most cases of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).Objective and hypotheses: To investigate whether combining risk factors improves predictability of IGT in OGTT.Method: In this observational study of 145 overweight children, aged 2.5&...

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...

Childhood obesity is a chronic disease with detrimental effects on health and wellbeing. Treatment was traditionally focused on reducing caloric intake and increasing energy expenditure. However, considering the global increase in prevalence in obesity, especially in the paediatric age range, this approach is insufficient and transition to new initiatives is needed. Obesity is a complex disease resulting from the interaction of multiple underlying factors, including personal c...