ESPE Abstracts

Background: Pre-eclampsia is associated with important complications for both mother and baby in the short term, but there are limited data about its long-term effects on offspring metabolism. Thus, we aimed to assess whether maternal pre-eclampsia was associated with adverse effects on metabolism and body composition in the offspring in childhood.Methods: We studied healthy pre-pubertal children (aged 4–10 years) b...

Background: Fifteen years ago children born very preterm (<32 weeks of gestation) were reported to be insulin resistant. Neonatal intensive care has since improved considerably, but it is unclear whether this has affected long-term outcomes in those born preterm. Abnormalities in gut microbiome, which influence host metabolism, have been found in preterm newborns.Objective and hypotheses: We aimed to assess whether children born very preterm still ha...

Background: We have previously shown in a randomised controlled trial that moderate-intensity exercise over the last 20 weeks of gestation in healthy nulliparous women led to a birth weight reduction of approximately 250 g.Objective and hypotheses: We aimed to assess the long-term effects of exercise in pregnancy on anthropometry and body composition in mothers and offspring 7 years after the intervention. We hypothesized that women who exercised in preg...

Background: Adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) have decreased muscle mass resulting in impaired mobility and osteopenia. There is a void in therapeutic interventions aimed at increasing muscle mass, muscle function as well as osteopoenia in this population. Whole body vibration training (WBVT) has the potential to fill this therapeutic void by maintaining/increasing muscle mass and bone mineral accrual during growth.Objective and hypotheses: We aimed t...

Background: Children with ISS have an array of causes that lead to short stature and/or poor growth velocity. Genetic causes of short stature, notably SHOX mutations, can be associated with subtle skeletal disproportion with shorter limbs, manifesting as increased sitting-to-standing height ratios or SDS.Objective and hypothesis: Children with ISS and skeletal disproportions have a diminished growth response to GH treatment compared to chi...

Background: Whilst multi-disciplinary intervention models for children and adolescents with obesity remain recommended best practice, there is a lack of long-term outcome data, especially in home-based models and programs embedded within the clinical setting. Whānau Pakari is a community-based multi-disciplinary assessment/intervention programme for child obesity, focused on reducing health inequity. Based in Taranaki, Aotearoa/New Zealand, it focusses on...

Background: Maternal overweight/obesity during pregnancy and excessive gestational weight gain (GWtG) have been recognized as important early-life risk factors for childhood obesity. We aimed to examine whether maternal BMI at 20 weeks of gestation and excessive GWtG were associated with alterations in body composition and metabolism in childhood in the offspring of primiparous mothers who participated in a randomised controlled trial of exercise regimen during pregnancy.<...

Lonapegsomatropin (TransCon hGH) is an investigational once-weekly prodrug of somatropin for the treatment of GHD. Previous trials in treatment-naïve (52-week heiGHt Trial) and treatment-experienced children (26-week fliGHt Trial) have reported the efficacy and safety of lonapegsomatropin. Subjects were eligible to enter the open-label extension enliGHten Trial, which continues to evaluate weekly lonapegsomatropin in pediatric GHD. In heiGHt, treatment-naïve subjects...

Background: TransCon hGH is a sustained-release prodrug in development as a long-acting GH for children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). TransCon hGH consists of a parent drug, growth hormone (hGH; somatropin), that is transiently bound to a carrier via a TransCon linker. The carrier extends hGH circulation time in the body and fully active hGH is released over one week at physiologic pH and temperature. Unlike other molecules in development, TransCon hGH...

In most complex traits, susceptibility to certain risk exposures and response to clinical interventions in is under genetic control, a concept broadly termed “gene-environment interaction”. Although in animals and in plants there is evidence supporting this notion, in humans most evidence is confined to rare monogenic disorders. In complex diseases like type 2 diabetes and obesity, interactions between genetic and environmental risk factors are likely to begin very e...