ESPE Abstracts

Background: Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) is genetically mediated in up to 30% of cases. Many genes associated with POI have roles in early ovary developmental processes, including meiosis.Objectives: We investigated the genetic mechanism underlying early-onset POI in three young women presenting with absent puberty: two sisters from a consanguineous pedigree and a third unrelated proband.<st...

Introduction: Neonatal ambiguous genitalia can herald sensitive, time-critical, and life-threatening diagnoses and thus paediatric doctors must be competent in their management. However, ambiguous genitalia are rare, limiting clinical exposure. We assessed paediatric doctors’ experience of, knowledge of, and confidence in managing this condition.Methods: A questionnaire was circulated to paediatric doctors at two tertiary and four secondary level pa...

Objective: Children are usually mildly affected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 infection (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19). However, the pandemic has impacted negatively on children with non-COVID-19 diseases. We aimed to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the presentation of newly diagnosed childhood-onset type 1 diabetes.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted over a one-year period. ...

Background: Steroid therapy has been used as a therapeutic strategy in the management of Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome Temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) with good effect. However, as always, exogenous steroid administration carries with it a risk of iatrogenic adrenal insufficiency.Aim: We characterise steroid therapy use in PIMS-TS and consider implications for hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal...

Background: Persistent Müllerian duct syndrome (PMDS) is a Disorder of Sex Development (DSD) caused by mutations in genes encoding anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) or its type II receptor (AMHR2) with autosomal recessive transmission. Objective: To report a case of transverse testicular ectopia (TTE), associated with PMDS, initially presented as an obstructed inguinal hernia.Case presentation: An 18- days- old male infant, wi...

Background: Transition is a difficult period for adolescents with type 1 diabetes. The non-linear development of the adolescent brain along with increasing insulin resistance, increasing autonomy and risk of psychopathology means that adolescents are vulnerable to poor mental and physical health and ensuing deterioration in metabolic control. It is also during this period of turmoil that adolescents often transfer from paediatric to adult services.Object...

Introduction: The metabolically healthy obese phenotype (MHOF) defines obese patients who have preserved insulin sensitivity and who do not have metabolic complications: lower risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in adulthood. Recent studies indicate that TMI (kg/m3) estimates the percentage of body fat more accurately than the BMI and it has been proposed to substitute the use of the BMI z-score values by those of the TMI. TMI values ...

Objective: The complex clinical phenotypes arising from HNF4A and HNF1A mutations are similar and include diazoxide-responsive CHI from infancy and maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) from adolescence. We aimed to characterise the clinical and genetic aspects of a cohort of paediatric patients with HNF4A or HNF1A mutations.Methods: Patients from five international centres over ...

Background: The COVID-19 crisis required paediatric endocrinologists to rapidly adopt telehealth into their clinical practice. Accurate auxology is a cornerstone of paediatric endocrinology care and is needed to monitor growth and guide medication changes. Remote consultations depend upon parent-reported measurements. However, home height measurements are often inaccurate.Aim: We designed a quality improvement study with...

Introduction: Empirical research studies suggest that continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGMS) are safe and could optimize neonatal hypoglycaemia management. However, they need to be tested within resource-limited, time-constrained clinical practice. CGMS was piloted in our Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in June 2017. Five key barriers to its effective implementation were identified: i) Lack of NICU staff confidence in device usage ii) Infant discomfort during...