ESPE Abstracts

Objectives: 1. To describe the clinical, biochemical and testicular ultrasonographic features in a population of males with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and Testicular Adrenal Rest Tumor (TART). 2. To identify factors related to the onset of TART. 3. To evaluate the therapeutic management and outcome of TART.Methods: Males with classic and non-classic 21β-hydroxylase-deficient CAH, diagnosed with TART, follo...

Background: Disorders of sex development (DSD) are often due to disruption of the genetic programs that regulate gonad development. Some genes have been identified in these developmental pathways such as DAX-1, SOX-9, GATA-4 and others. The GATA-4 gene, located on chromosome 8p23.1, encodes GATA-binding protein 4 (GATA-4), a transcription factor that is essential for cardiac and gonadal development and sexual differentiation. Congenital heart disease (CHD) and...

Introduction: Rapidly rising rates of childhood obesity (CO) are a current problem, and European and national data confirm the concern. CO comorbidities occur early and tend to persist into adulthood, negatively affecting long-term health. There is an urgent need to implement CO prevention programs, starting in the early years of life. In Southern Italy, an innovative health project, “EpPOI: Educate to Prevent Childhood Obesity,” has been establish...

Introduction: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) in children and adolescents is a condition characterized by elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels with normal serum free thyroxine (T4). The clinical significance and natural course of SH remain subjects of debate, necessitating a review of the literature to guide management decisions.Methods: This review analyzed ten studies, encompassing both observational cohor...

Background: Among children with idiopathic short stature, Italian data reported a prevalence of short stature homeobox-containing gene (SHOX) deficiency disorders (SHOX-D) near to 1/1.000-2.000 (1.1-15%) with a wide phenotypic spectrum. Current guidelines support recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy in SHOX-D children, but long-term data are still lacking. This national survey aims to evaluate long-term efficacy and safety of rhGH therapy in Italian...

Context: The response to lifestyle modification (LSM) in children with obesity is variable and difficult to predict.Aim: A systematic search for molecular markers to predict outcomes of LSM in pediatric obesity management.Patients/Methods: Out of 240 children with obesity (BMI>97%) recruited to a prospective ‘multi-OMICS’ study granted by ESPE Research Unit, 159 subj...

Context: The response to lifestyle modification (LSM) in children with obesity is variable and difficult to predict.Aim: A systematic search for identifying common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to predict positive outcomes of LSM in pediatric obesity management, defined as decrease in BMI z-score (based on IOTF).Patients/Methods: Out of 240 children with obesity (BMI>97...

Introduction: Central precocious puberty (CPP) is due to premature activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Mutations in the imprinted gene MKRN3 are the most common monogenic form of CPP. Recently, attention was directed to DLK1, another imprinted gene. Defects in this gene resulted to be a rare cause of CPP in girls and adult women with precocious menarche, obesity and metabolic derangement. We aimed to investigate a cohort of female and male p...

Aim: To develop a low cost formula as screening tool for identifying youths with overweight/obesity (OW/OB) at risk for impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).Methods and results: A retrospective observational study was performed in 1189 Caucasian youths with OW/OB aged 5-17 years, in whom information about family history for diabetes (FD), fasting glucose (FG), 2-hour glucose levels post-oral glucose tolerance test, alanine a...

Context: The unified approach for obese children can result in therapeutic failure as obesity is a symptom of several conditions. It was previously suggested that only children with obesity onset beyond age 6 years will develop the metabolic syndrome and T2D. In turn, early childhood obesity carries a few times less risk of adult obesity comparing to that with the onset during juvenility.Aim: We determine the clinical an...