ESPE Abstracts

Background: Estrogen replacement is a treatment of choice for pubertal induction in adolescent girls with ovarian failure due to Turner syndrome (TS). Recently published data show, that prepubertal low dose estrogen replacement is more physiologic, and can optimize response to growth hormone treatment, pubertal timing, and improve cognition. The metabolic effects of such treatment regimen have not been fully investigated to date.Objective and hypotheses:...

Introduction: Obesity is the direct cause of a number of immediate problems during childhood. Recently, fat mass was described as a significant negative predictor of serum iron. Hepcidin is a hormone stimulated by an increase in plasma iron levels and iron deposits in tissues, and decreases iron release from macrophages and duodenal enterocytes into the plasma. This protein prevents excessive iron absorption and iron accumulation in tissues. Ferritin is the most commonly deplo...

Background: Obesity in childhood is defined by age- and sex-specific BMI cut-off values. However, BMI does not disclose the distribution of fat mass. Increased abdominal adipose tissue is associated with a higher risk of cardio-metabolic disease in adulthood. Thus, precise measurements of abdominal adipose tissue in children may enable early prevention of disease.Objective and hypotheses: To validate measurements of abdominal adipose tissue by anthropome...

Introduction: Obesity is a multifactorial disease resulting from an interplay between genetics and the environment. Metabolic, nutritional, psychosocial, and lifestyle factors participate, promoting various degrees of overweight or obesity. Pediatric obesity increases after infancy and is higher in early adulthood, showing a heritability of up to 85%. Genetic variants associated with BMI in children can exert their effects by affecting eating behavior, as is t...

Background: Prader orchidometry has been the standard method for evaluating testicular size. As this technique is subjective and tends to overestimate the testicular volume, ultrasound has been proposed as a more reliable method.Objective: To evaluate the intra- and inter-observer agreement of ultrasound measurements of testicular volume and comparison with Prader orchidometry.Materials and methods: Length, width and depth of the r...

Background: Newborn screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is based on the determination of 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP) on blood and its need is confirmed by the most recent guidelines on the subject. In Italy this screening is not mandatory, and its application is on a regional basis. Among its disadvantages, it is well known the high frequency of false-positives, in particular in premature babies and those born small for gestational age. Howev...

Background: Tumor induced osteomalacia (TIO) is clinically characterized by bowed, short and painful legs in children and bone pain if onset in adolescent or adult life. Paraclinical, TIO is characterized by hypophosphatemia, low levels of 1.25-OH2-vitamin D (1.25 OH2D), and elevated levels of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23). TIO is due to tumor secretion of FGF23, which inhibits phosphate re-absorption in the proximal renal tubules a...

Celiac Disease is being increasingly recognised among Asians, but the spectrum of presentation may differ from that of Caucasian populations. The clinical phenotypes of celiac disease and diseases of gluten intolerance have not been well studied in Singaporean patients. We describe the clinical, biochemical and genetic phenotype of each seropositive individuals from a single private sector paediatric endocrinology clinic in Singapore over the period 2008 to 2020. These 67 pati...

Background: Abnormalities in the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis have been reported in Noonan syndrome (NS) males but few data are available in female patients. Objective: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the gonadal function of female patients with NS and to look for genotype-phenotype correlations. Patients and Methods: The study population included 19 girls/adolescents with a genetically confirmed diagnosis of NS and with available cli...

Introduction: The prevalence of celiac disease is 5–10 times higher in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) than in the general population. Therefore, celiac serology should be screened intermittently in type 1 DM patients. However, anti-tissue transglutaminase (anti-TTG) antibody elevation may be detected incidentally at the time of type 1 DM diagnosis and regress spontaneously during follow-up, without medical or dietary interventions.<p clas...