Paeds: Endocrinology (2)

Question 1

Causes of delayed puberty with short stature

Answer 1

• Turner’s syndrome
• Prader-Willi syndrome
• Noonan’s syndrome

Question 2

Causes of delayed puberty with normal stature

Answer 2

• polycystic ovarian syndrome
• androgen insensitivity
• Kallman’s syndrome
• Klinefelter’s syndrome

Question 3

Ages at which a girl and a boy may be classified as ‘extreme’ delay in puberty

Answer 3

Girl → >14 y old

Boy → >16 y old

Question 4

What’s the danger of congenital hypothyroidism?

Answer 4

If not diagnosed and treated within the first four weeks it causes irreversible cognitive impairment

Question 5

Features of congenital hypothyroidism

Answer 5

• prolonged neonatal jaundice
• delayed mental & physical milestones
• short stature
• puffy face
• macroglossia
• hypotonia

Question 6

Screening for congenital hypothyroidism

Answer 6

Children are screened at 5-7 days using the heel prick test

Question 7

What’s a secondary hypothyroidism?

• where is the problem
• levels of TFTs

Answer 7

• problem is at the hypothalamus or pituitary gland
• Low levels of plasma TSH
• Low levels of plasma Thyroxine

*Requires the levels of FT4 and TSH for diagnosis

Question 8

Causes of hypothyroidism in children

Answer 8

The most common cause of hypothyroidism in children (juvenile hypothyroidism) is autoimmune thyroiditis.

Other causes include

• post total-body irradiation (e.g. in a child previous treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia)
• iodine deficiency (the most common cause in the developing world)

Question 9

Structure of adrenal gland

Answer 9

Question 10

What to do next if BMI of a child is at:

• 91st centile or above
• 98th centile or above

Answer 10

• 91st centile or above → consider tailored clinical intervention if BMI
• 98th centile or above → consider assessing for comorbidities

Question 11

Causes of obesity in children

Answer 11

• lifestyle factors → the most common cause of obesity in children
• growth hormone deficiency
• hypothyroidism
• Down’s syndrome
• Cushing’s syndrome
• Prader-Willi syndrome

Question 12

Epidemiology of obesity in children

Answer 12

• Asian children: four times more likely to be obese than white children
• female children
• taller children: children with obesity are often above the 50th percentile in height

Question 13

Consequences of obesity in children

Answer 13

• orthopaedic problems: slipped upper femoral epiphyses, Blount’s disease (a development abnormality of the tibia resulting in bowing of the legs), musculoskeletal pains
• psychological consequences: poor self-esteem, bullying
• sleep apnoea
• benign intracranial hypertension
• long-term consequences: increased incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and ischaemic heart disease

Question 14

Relationship of GH and IGF-1

Answer 14

• GH (via a complex cascade) initiates the release of IGF-I within many tissues but predominantly the liver and at the growth plate
• IGF-I acts in an autocrine and paracrine manner via the IGF-I receptor to stimulate cell proliferation and longitudinal growth

Question 15

What other hormones can affect GH-IGF-1 system?

Answer 15

Many other hormones can affect the GH-IGF-I system or directly affect cell proliferation at the growth plate including:

• thyroid hormone
• vitamin D
• corticosteroids

Question 16

What is the trigger for puberty to start?

Answer 16

• Puberty’s trigger lies in hypothalamus → secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)
• GnRH → stimulates the pituitary gland → release of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
• LH and FSH → signal ovaries and testes to begin releasing the appropriate sex hormones → estrogens and testosterone, which launch the other signs of puberty in the body

Question 17

What’s the earliest sign of puberty in females

Answer 17

Breast development or ‘thelarche’ is the earliest sign of puberty and coincides with pubertal growth spurt

Question 18

What’s first sign of puberty in males?

Answer 18

The first sign of puberty in boys is change in testicular volume from 3 mls to 4 mls

Question 19

Prognosis for delayed puberty

Answer 19

Many children with delayed puberty will eventually go through an otherwise normal puberty, just at a late age

Question 20

Benign causes of delayed puberty

Answer 20

• child is just maturing more slowly than average, a condition called constitutional delay of puberty

​* This condition often runs in families

• young girls who undergo intense physical training for a sport, such as running or gymnastics, start puberty later than normal

Question 21

Indications for reviewing a patient with delayed puberty

Answer 21

• No breast development in girls by age 13
• No menstruation for five or more years after the first appearance of breast tissue
• No testicles development by age 14 in boys
• Incompletely developed male organs by five years after they first start to develop

Question 22

Management of Turner’s syndrome

Answer 22

There’s no cure for Turner syndrome, but certain treatments can help cope with the symptoms and effects of this condition:

• Hormone treatments with growth hormone and/or other hormones can improve growth and help girls achieve taller heights in adulthood
• Estrogen replacement around the age of 12 or 13 may be initiated to stimulate the development of secondary sexual characteristics, such as breasts, and menstruation
• If structural heart defects are present, cardiac surgery may be needed

Question 23

Is Turner’s syndrome inherited?

Answer 23

Most cases of Turner syndrome are not inherited.

• chromosomal abnormality occurs as a random event during the formation of reproductive cells (eggs and sperm) in the affected person’s parent
• an error in cell division called nondisjunction can result in reproductive cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes

Mosaic Turner syndrome is also not inherited

• it occurs as a random event during cell division in early fetal development → as a result, some of an affected person’s cells have the usual two sex chromosomes, and other cells have only one copy of the X chromosome

Question 24

Biochemical characteristics of Addison’s disease

Answer 24

• hyponatremia
• hypoglycaemia
• hyperkalaemia
• unexplained eosinophilia
• mild prerenal azotaemia (accumulation of urea and creatinine in the body)

Question 25

Causes of congenital hypothyroidism

Answer 25

• anatomic defect in the gland
• an inborn error of thyroid metabolism
• iodine deficiency

Question 26

Signs and symptoms of congenital hypothyroidism

Answer 26

• Infants with congenital hypothyroidism are usually born at term or after term
• Often, affected infants are described as “good babies” because they rarely cry and they sleep most of the time

 Decreased activity

 Large anterior fontanelle

 Poor feeding and weight gain

 Small stature or poor growth

 Jaundice

 Decreased stooling or constipation

 Hypotonia

 Hoarse cry

Question 27

Physical findings O/E of congenital hypothyroidism

Answer 27

The physical findings of hypothyroidism may or may not be present at birth. Signs include:

 Coarse facial features

 Macroglossia

 Large fontanelles

 Umbilical hernia

 Mottled, cool, and dry skin

 Developmental delay

 Pallor

 Myxedema

 Goiter

Question 28

Diagnosis of congenital hypothyroidism

Answer 28

Diagnosis of primary hypothyroidism

• decreased levels of serum thyroid hormone (total or free T4) and elevated levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)
• if maternal antibody-mediated hypothyroidism is suspected→ maternal and neonatal antithyroid antibodies

Question 29

In neonate, does a combination of low T4 and normal TSH require treatment?

Answer 29

NO

The combination of low or low-normal serum total T4 levels and a serum TSH within the reference range suggests thyroid-binding globulin (TBG) deficiency.

This congenital disorder causes no pathologic consequence but should be recognized to avoid unnecessary thyroid hormone administration (i.e. when thinking about congenital hypothyroidism).