ESPE Abstracts

Human imprinting disorders are congenital disorders of growth, development and metabolism, associated with disturbance of gene dosage at imprinted loci across the genome. Causes of disease include point mutations, structural variants, uniparental disomy and ‘epimutations’ with a parent of origin specific effect. Further complexity underlies the causes of the epigenomic errors that may be the result of genetic and environmental factors at different times during the de...

Background: Birth chest circumference (BC) may be related to Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF)-Binding-Protein-3 blood serum levels (IB3) in the human newborn (NWB).Objective and hypotheses: We evaluated the relevance of birth body weight (BW) to birth crown-heel length (BL) ratio (BW through BL, BW/BL) in BC relations to IB3 after control for BW for birth gestational age (GA)<=10th centile (SGA), respiratory O2 supplementation (O2S), assisted ventila...

Background: Birth chest circumference (BC) may be related to Insulin-like-Growth-Factor-I blood serum levels (IG1) in the human newborn (NWB).Objective and hypotheses: We evaluated the relevance of birth body weight (BW) to birth crown-heel length (BL) ratio (BW through BL, BW/BL) in BC relations to IG1 after control for BW for birth gestational age (GA)<=10th centile (SGA), respiratory oxygen supplementation (O2S) and assisted ventilation of any kin...

Pediatric severe obesity is a major threat to health and longevity. Around 7% of children worldwide have early onset severe obesity before the age of 7. Pediatric obesity is caused by an interplay of multiple factors: lifestyle, environmental, sociocultural, psychological, biological and genetic factors. Endocrine, monogenetic or syndromal causes are rare, but currently underdiagnosed and important to identify for the need of specific treatment. Cardiovascular risk factors and...

In Turner Syndrome (TS) the ovaries usually start to involute within 4 or 5 months of gestation. Consequently, the majority of patients have diminished ovarian estrogen production leading to the (Partial) absence of puberty. These girls need estrogen therapy to induce pubertal maturation. For many parents of girls with TS, talking about ovaries, puberty and, particularly, infertility is a stressful thing. However, timely age-appropriate disclosure about these subjects, startin...

Micropenis is defined as a penile length less than 2.5 SD below the mean value for a given age (eg, <2.5 cm at term). Nowadays, it should be also diagnosed in utero by sonography. The incidence of micropenis has been reported as 1.5/10.000 male infants in Usa, 5/1.442 in France and 18/2710 in Brazil, suggesting geographical differences or different assessment. Micropenis represents a clinical sign, that may be part of various clinical conditions, such as hypogonad...

Background: Relatively little is known about endocrine function, bone mineral health, and growth during oral iron chelation therapy (OIC) in β-thalassemia major patients (BMT) on treatment with deferasirox.Aims of the study: To measure the final adult standing height (FA-Ht) and the frequency of endocrine complications in relation to their liver iron content (LIC) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) concentration. Patients were grouped into two...

Background: Septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) is a highly heterogeneous condition with a variable phenotype, defined as two or more features of the classical triad: i) optic nerve hypoplasia, ii) midline brain defects, and iii) pituitary hormone abnormalities.Objective and hypotheses: To describe the clinical, endocrine, and neuroimaging features in eight children with SOD.Method: Eight (six males) consecutive patients, diagnosed with SO...

Background: Prevalence and severity of obesity and associated comorbidities are increasing in adolescents. Data on neck and upper arm (UA) circumference in addition to established anthropometric measures to define cardiometabolic risk are limited to date.Methods: Data from Phase I of the EU-funded PreSTART-study (trial registration number NCT02545140) was applied. Demographic, clinical, biochemical and lifestyle data were collected in adolescent...

Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) is a rare, potentially life-threatening, condition due to abnormalities of steroid biosynthesis or of adrenal gland development and responsiveness. PAI is characterized by impaired secretion of glucocorticoids and can be accompanied by mineralocorticoid and adrenal androgens deficiency or excess, depending on the underlying cause. In adults, the most common etiology is represented by autoimmunity. In contrast, the disease in children is more...