Bibian van der Voorn

Erasmus MC | Erasmus MC · Obesity Center CGG

Background Both the causes and consequences of childhood obesity can be complex. To provide healthcare that is suitably tailored to the specific needs of children with obesity integrated care is required. The objective of this study was to explore the perceived barriers and facilitators of healthcare professionals (HCPs) in providing integrated car...

Objective: To assess BMI trajectories of children with genetic obesity in order to identify optimal early age of onset of obesity (AoO) cut-offs for genetic screening. Study design: T his longitudinal, observational study included growth measurements from birth onwards of children with non-syndromic and syndromic genetic obesity and control chil...

Background: It is unknown whether weight class is associated with impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for children in the Netherlands. The aim of this study was to explore generic and weight-specific HRQOL in a clinical cohort of children with overweight, obesity or severe obesity aged 5-19 years in the Netherlands. Methods: 803...

Little is known about the prevalence of negative weight-biased attitudes among Dutch healthcare professionals (HCPs) when treating children and adolescents with obesity and whether interdisciplinary differences are present. Accordingly, we asked Dutch HCPs that treat pediatric patients with obesity to complete a validated 22-item self-report questi...

Background: Obesity is a multifactorial, chronic, progressive disease associated with decreased health-related quality of life, comorbidities, and increased mortality risk. Lifestyle interventions, focusing on dietetics, physical exercise, and behavioral therapy, are a cornerstone of therapy. Despite this very multidisciplinary treatment approach,...

Disrupted hormonal appetite signaling plays a crucial role in obesity as it may lead to uncontrolled reward‐related eating. Such disturbances can be induced not only by weight gain itself but also by glucocorticoid overexposure, for example, due to chronic stress, disease, or medication use. However, the exact pathways are just starting to be under...

Introduction Early-onset obesity is a cardinal feature of rare genetic obesity disorders. According to the Endocrine Society guideline, genetic screening is indicated in selected cases with age of onset (AoO) of severe obesity (grade ≥2) <5 years. However, this cut-off is not validated. Aims To present the detailed BMI characteristics of children...

Background Pediatric obesity is a multifactorial disease characterized by a prolonged imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. In rare cases, it is caused by underlying medical disorders arising from disruptions in the leptin-melanocortin pathway which regulates satiety and energy expenditure. Aim To investigate and compare resting energy...

Background Many healthcare professionals (HCPs) feel uncomfortable and incompetent talking about weight with children with overweight and obesity and their parents. To optimally target interventions that can improve obesity care for children, we assessed the self-efficacy (SE) and perceived barriers (PBs) of Dutch HCPs with regard to talking about...

Background It is unknown whether weight class is associated with impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for children in the Netherlands. The aim of this study was to explore generic and weight-specific HRQOL in a clinical cohort of children with overweight, obesity or severe obesity aged 4–19 years in the Netherlands. Methods 803 chi...

Background Pediatric obesity is a multifactorial disease which can be caused by underlying medical disorders arising from disruptions in the hypothalamic leptin-melanocortin pathway, which regulates satiety and energy expenditure. Aim To investigate and compare resting energy expenditure (REE) and body composition characteristics of children and a...

Objective Patients with pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) defects generally present with early-onset obesity, hyperphagia, hypopigmentation and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) deficiency. Rodent models suggest that adequate cleavage of ACTH to α-melanocortin–stimulating hormone (α-MSH) and desacetyl-α-melanocortin–stimulating hormone (d-α-MSH) by prohormone c...

Objective: Childhood obesity is associated with alterations in hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. We tested the hypothesis that multiple alterations in the metabolism of glucocorticoids are required for the development of hypertension in children who become overweight. Methods: Spot urine for targeted gas chromatography-mass spectrome...

Background: Many healthcare professionals (HCPs) feel uncomfortable and incompetent to talk about weight with children with overweight and obesity and their parents. To optimally target interventions that can improve obesity care for children, we assessed the self-efficacy (SE) and perceived barriers (PBs) of Dutch HCPs in regard to talking about w...

Increasing evidence points to a relation between increased glucocorticoid (GC) exposure and weight gain. In support, long-term cortisol measurements using hair analysis revealed that many individuals with obesity appear to have cortisol values in the high physiological range. The mechanisms behind this relationship need to be determined in order to...

Background: Long-term glucocorticoids (HairGC) measured in scalp hair have been associated with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-hip-ratio (WHR) in several cross-sectional studies. We aimed to investigate the magnitude, strength, and clinical relevance of these relations across all ages. Methods: We performed a systemat...

Introduction: COVID-19 lockdown measures have large impact on lifestyle behaviors and wellbeing of children. The aim of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on eating styles and behaviors, physical activity (PA), screen time, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children (0-18 years) with sev...

Objectives Higher long-term glucocorticoid levels, measured in scalp hair (HairGC), are associated with obesity. This may represent the state of obesity (perhaps interrelated with chronic immune activation), but could also promote further weight gain. We studied whether hair cortisol (HairF) and hair cortisone (HairE) predict changes in body mass i...

Obesity is highly prevalent and comes with serious health burden. In a minority, a genetic cause is present which often results in therapy‐resistant obesity. Liraglutide is a glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) analogue, which has beneficial effects on satiety and weight in common obesity. We present the effects of GLP‐1 analogues in adults with a mole...

Background: Chronic stress is often accompanied by alterations in the diurnal rhythm of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal activity. However, there are limited data on the diurnal rhythmicity of breast milk glucocorticoids (GCs) among women with psychological distress. We compared mothers who sought consultation at an expertise center for pregnant wom...

Introduction: Recently, cross-sectional studies report associations between long-term glucocorticoid levels in scalp hair (HairGC) and obesity. However, there is a wide variation in studied outcomes and associations, possibly caused by differences in population characteristics, e.g. age, sex, dispersion of adiposity, and used laboratory methods. Th...

Introduction: Obesity is highly prevalent, comes with serious health burden and is difficult to treat. In a minority, there is a genetic cause for the obesity. In these patients, therapy-resistant obesity is often observed despite intensive lifestyle treatment. Moreover, it is still unclear whether bariatric surgery is less successful in genetic ob...

Introduction: Hypothalamic obesity (HO) in children can be either genetic or acquired, as a result of a suprasellar tumor or its treatment. HO, resulting from hyperphagia and/or a decreased resting energy expenditure (REE), may have devastating consequences for the child and its family. Currently, no effective drug treatment is yet available for HO...

Background: Long-term glucocorticoid levels measured in scalp hair (HairGC) are positively correlated to obesity in cross-sectional studies, however it is unclear whether this reflects a state of obesity or an actual maintaining or contributing factor to obesity. Objectives: To investigate whether hair cortisol (HairF) and hair cortisone (HairE) pr...

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown measures were implemented with large impact on lifestyle behaviors and well-being of children (including adolescents). The impact on children with severe obesity, who plausibly are at even larger risk, has not yet been described. Aim of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdow...

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a broad concept and covers several fasting regimes. Studies of 'early time restricted feeding' and 'alternate day fasting' with energy restriction show a greater effect on weight and cardiometabolic health in overweight people in the short term, compared to a continuous caloric restriction (CCR). 'Late time restricted f...

Objective Sex-specific differences in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity might explain why male preterm infants are at higher risk of neonatal mortality and morbidity than their female counterparts. We examined whether male and female preterm infants differed in cortisol production and metabolism at 10 days post-partum. Design and methods...

Obesity is a complex endocrine disease, mainly caused by environmental, behavioral and biological factors. Maintaining weight loss is extremely difficult due to the neuro-endocrine dysregulations that stimulate the body to return to the previous, increased, weight. Identifying underlying weight-gaining factors is needed, including medication-relate...

Background Maternal psychopathology during pregnancy is associated with negative outcomes in offspring. Increased placental transfer of maternal cortisol may contribute to mediate this association. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCCs) appear to be a good bio-marker of long-term prenatal stress exposure. Little is known about the associations betwee...

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Introduction: Corticosteroids are widely prescribed and their use has been linked to adverse cardiometabolic outcomes. A pivotal role in the action of corticosteroids is reserved for the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Here, we assessed the relationship of glucocorticoid (GC) sensitivity altering GR polymorphisms with anthropometrics and metabolic s...

Context: Obesity and cardiometabolic diseases are associated with higher long-term glucocorticoid levels, measured as scalp hair cortisol (HairF) and cortisone (HairE). Cardiometabolic diseases have also been associated with copeptin, a stable surrogate marker for the arginine-vasopressin (AVP) system. Since AVP is, together with corticotropin-rel...

Recent studies report negative mental health effects of the COVID-19 related lockdown measures in general paediatric cohorts. Since obesity is a risk factor for COVID-19 in adults, children (including adolescents) with obesity might perceive themselves to be vulnerable. Using a combined quantitative and qualitative approach, we explored COVID-19 re...

PurposeIn previous studies, associations between breast-milk cortisol levels obtained on one occasion and infant neurodevelopment were demonstrated. However, more recent evidence indicates that breast-milk cortisol and cortisone concentrations follow the diurnal rhythm of maternal hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, peaking in the early morning an...

Background Underlying medical causes of obesity (endocrine disorders, genetic obesity disorders, cerebral or medication-induced obesities) are thought to be rare. Even in specialized pediatric endocrinology clinics, low diagnostic yield is reported, but evidence is limited. Identifying these causes is vital for patient-tailored treatment. Objectiv...

Objective: Sex differences in disease susceptibility might be explained by sexual dimorphism in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, which has been postulated to emerge during puberty. However, studies conducted thus far lacked an assessment of Tanner pubertal stage. This study aimed to assess the contribution of pubertal development to se...

Context The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis displays a diurnal rhythm. However, little is known about its development in early life. Objective To describe HPA-axis activity and study possible influencing factors in 1-month-old infants. Design Observational Setting Amsterdam UMC, location VUMC, and OLVG, Amsterdam Interventions Collect...

Objective: Glucocorticoids (GCs) in breastmilk have previously been associated with infant body growth and body composition. However, the diurnal rhythm of breastmilk GCs was not taken into account, and we therefore aimed to assess the associations between breastmilk GC rhythmicity at 1 month and growth and body composition at 3 months in infants....

Finding new ways to reach sustainable weight reduction, which are suitable for daily practice, is important. In this commentary we discuss the article by Astbury et al. suggesting that a total diet replacement (TDR) programme in a primary care setting is safe and effective. We raise some important questions about the limited duration of the study,...

Background: Glucocorticoids (GCs) in breastmilk follow the maternal hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis activity and may affect the offspring’s growth and neurodevelopment. There is some evidence suggesting that macronutrients in breastmilk also fluctuate throughout the day. We aimed to research whether GCs and macronutrients are correlated in mult...

Background: Hair glucocorticoids (GCs) offer a retrospective view on chronic GC exposure. We assessed whether maternal pre- and postnatal stress was associated with neonatal and maternal hair GCs postpartum (pp). Methods: On the first day pp 172 mother-infant pairs donated hair, of whom 67 had consulted a centre of expertise for psychiatric disorde...

Background Gender-specific differences in hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity have been postulated to emerge during puberty. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that gender-specific differences in HPA axis activity are already present in childhood. Methods From inception to January 2016, PubMed a...

Background: Glucocorticoids (GCs) measured in neonatal hair might reflect intrauterine as well as postpartum GC regulation. We aimed to identify factors associated with neonatal hair GC levels in early life, and their correlation with maternal hair GCs. Methods: In a single-center observational study, mother-infant pairs (n=108) admitted for >72...

Background In adults, hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity shows sexual dimorphism, and this is thought to be a mechanism underlying sex-specific disease incidence. Evidence is scarce on whether these sex differences are also present in childhood. In a meta-analysis, we recently found that basal (non-stimulated) cortisol in saliva and...

Human donor milk is the feeding of choice for preterm infants, when own mother's milk is not available. Holder pasteurization is necessary to secure the safety of donor milk, although it can affect milk quality by reduction of nutritional and bioactive components. Recently, research has focused on the potential role of breast-milk glucocorticoids f...

Background: Many very preterm (i.e., <32 weeks of gestation) newborns fail to mount an adequate adrenocortical response to stress or illness, termed relative adrenal insufficiency. Conversely, later in life these infants show features of increased glucocorticoid bioactivity, such as abdominal adiposity, insulin resistance, raised blood pressure, s...

Background: Preterm birth has been associated with altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA-) axis activity as well as cardiometabolic diseases and neurodevelopmental impairments later in life. We assessed cortisol from term age to age 8 y in children born preterm, to explore the development of HPA-axis activity in association with intrauterine...

Background: Very preterm infants often receive donor milk from mothers who deliver at term, but its composition differs from that of their own mother's milk. Because breast-milk glucocorticoids can support developing neonates, we explored concentration variability within and between mothers. Objective: We hypothesized that breast-milk glucocorti...

Very preterm (i.e., <32 weeks of gestation) infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit are compromised in their abilities to respond adequately to common threats like hemodynamic changes and reduced energy supplies, which is partly attributable to adrenocortical insufficiency. Conversely, later in life, these infants show features of incr...

Context: Preterm survivors exhibit neurodevelopmental impairments. Whether this association is influenced by antenatal glucocorticoid treatment and glucocorticoid sensitivity is unknown. Objectives: To study the effects of antenatal glucocorticoid treatment and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) polymorphisms on behavi...

AimThe aim of this study was to provide an overview of fetal/neonatal alloimmune neutropenia (FNAIN), together with advice on the clinical management.Methods Neutrophil serology in The Netherlands is centralised at Sanquin Diagnostic Services. We examined FNAIN cases between 1 January 1991 and 1 July 1 2013 to determine the number of cases diagnose...