Incidence and prevalence rate estimation of GH treatment exposure in Piedmont pediatric population in the years 2002-2004: Data from the GH Registry.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to estimate the annual incidence and prevalence rate of the GH treatment exposure in patients under the age of 18 treated for hypopituitarism or isolated GH deficiency (GHD) in Piedmont, during the period January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2004. METHODS: The selection criteria for recombinant human GH (rhGH) treatment in childhood were approved by the Ministry of Health in Italy in the yr 1998. The present analysis is based on data from the Registry of subjects receiving GH therapy (GH Registry) made up of the 918 pediatric patients (age <18 yr) with a diagnosis of GHD (excluding Prader-Willi and Turner syndromes and other conditions), diagnosed in the period January 1, 2002 - December 31, 2004. The case series has been described as regards the number of cases per year of diagnosis; the prevalence and incidence rates, calculated per 10,000 (per ten thousand) inhabitants, are given for each year of the study period. RESULTS: The prevalence rate increases slightly from 8.62 per thousand in 2002 to 9.44 per thousand in 2004 and the incidence rates estimated were 2.49 per ten thousand, 1.86 per ten thousand and 1.97 per ten thousand in the yr 2002, 2003 and 2004, respectively. CONCLUSION: The Piedmont GH Registry represents the first database available in Italy and could set an example for the other Italian regions as well.

[Endoscopic examinations in the primary tuberculosis complex in childhood]. / L'indagine endoscopica nel complesso primario dell'infanzia.

The authors draw attention here to a series of cases of primary tuberculosis in early infancy (in children aged between 4 months and 4 years), and they stress that it is indispensable to perform endoscopy in those forms where the lymphoglandular element constitutes the starting point of symptoms of local complications. The authors point to the high incidence of bronchoglandular fistulae mentioned in publications, which can be discovered exclusively by endoscopy and which can also be made easy by cortisone therapy. This therapy moreover remains a fundamental weapon against respiratory defect which follow when the lymphoglandular element of the primary tuberculous infection affects the bronchi. The authors also wish to stress that the cortisone therapy can also avoid serious loss of of pulmonary function as demonstrated in a patient whom the authors were only able to observe at a late stage.