Factors that cause short stature in children

Pediatric Endocrinology Specialist Assoc. Dr Murat Doğan, who argues that growth factor is one of the main features that distinguishes a child from an adult, said early diagnosis is important in short stature. Pediatric Endocrinology Specialist Assoc. Dr. Murat Doğan noted that the main factors influencing growth are genetic factors, psychological environment, nutrition, hormonal structure, chronic diseases and drugs used. Noting that the level of increase in height, body weight and head circumference for normal growth should be within expected values, depending on the potential of age, sex and genetic structure, Doğan said: “Monitoring growth not only shows how much a child will grow, but also show how healthy he is.

Many diseases that appear in the life of adults with various symptoms can only manifest themselves in childhood with short stature. Therefore, it is very important to monitor growth and diagnose short stature. For short stature, it is necessary to measure the stature with a standard and correct method. Height should be measured in a supine position in children and upright in older children. For each child who can comfortably stand upright, the height measurement is taken standing. The height of the child should be measured when he is as upright as possible. In addition to the child’s height, all body proportions (seat height, arm/forearm ratio, stride length, lower segment length) must be measured accurately and completely. Whether the child’s height is normal or not is evaluated using the “percentile” curves prepared from the height curves of healthy children, and it is considered normal for the child’s height to be between 3, 97th percentile lies. If the height of the child is below the 3rd percentile, or even if it falls within normal curves, if it decreases over time, i.e. if the growth rate is insufficient or if the height of the child is less than the height of the parents, these cases should be investigated.

To provide information on the causes of short stature, Assoc. Dr Doğan said: “Short stature may be related to structural short stature and delay in puberty along with familial factors. Children with short stature are generally seen in people with low birth weight, skeletal dysplasia or diseases of the skeletal system and nutritional disorders.”

As for the factors that cause short stature, Doğan noted that short stature is caused by hypothyroidism, growth hormone deficiency, Turner syndrome, long-term chronic diseases (such as heart, kidneys, blood) as well as long-term medications used for this. disorders. Also alerted the families, Assoc. Dr. Murat Doğan emphasized that the diagnosis of this disease in the early period is very important, especially in terms of treatment. Doğan stated that early diagnosis of cases with growth hormone deficiency, hypothyroidism or Turner syndrome during treatment is very important in terms of the target height to be reached in adulthood and the target height to be reached.