Data released at the lecture “Child Growth and Development” shows that only 1.6% of parents are aware that this may be caused by certain diseases. Experts reminded parents not to blindly believe in height-enhancing supplements, but to go to the hospital for standardized treatment and take fewer detours to avoid delaying the best time for treatment.
The three sisters grew 11 centimeters taller in a year. The 12-year-old triplet sisters are called Xiao Lei, Xiao Xue and Xiao Yu (a pseudonym). The mother, Ms. Lei, said, “As early as when the little sisters were four or five years old in kindergarten, it was discovered that they were a head shorter than children of the same age.” By the time they reached fourth grade, their attentive grandmother noticed that the three little sisters had actually grown only 4 or 5 centimeters in the previous year and five months.
So, Ms. Lei brought the triplets to the endocrinology department of the hospital for a checkup, and it turned out that the children were suffering from “growth hormone deficiency”. The endocrinologist patiently examined the children and recommended early medication to avoid delaying their growth. Fortunately, a kind-hearted pharmaceutical company learned of the triplets’ plight and gave them medicine to help them grow faster.
“A miracle began to happen! Every month the children grew 1 cm taller; after six months the children grew 6 cm taller; after one year, the three sisters grew 11 cm taller. The children’s height has grown from 1.24 meters last year to 1.37 meters now, and their favorite clothes and pants have suddenly become shorter.
More than 30% of parents think their children will “leap” A survey shows that 97% of parents of children with short stature recognize that their children are short, but only 1.6% realize that it may be caused by certain diseases. The percentage of parents who do not know enough about dwarfism and lack basic knowledge (such as the average height of each age group and the cause of the disease) is 41.9%; the percentage of parents who do not think dwarfism is a disease and mistakenly believe that their children will grow late and will “leap” in the future is 32.3%; the percentage of parents who know that treatment is needed but the cost of drugs is too high to afford is 29%; the percentage of parents who blindly believe in calcium supplementation and height increase advertisements and buy height increasing supplements for their children is 29%. The percentage of those who bought height-enhancing health products for their children was 16.1%; the percentage of those who did not pay attention to their children’s height and did not give them regular medical checkups was 12.9%.
In addition, nearly half of the parents interviewed attributed their children’s short stature to “late development” and “picky and partial eating”, and took measures to increase nutrition, strengthen physical exercise, supplement vitamin tablets or height-enhancing supplements, etc. Even more than 20% of parents did not take any measures to deal with their children’s short stature. More than 20% of parents do not take any measures to deal with their children’s short stature, and even do not take their children to the hospital for examination.
Most children with short stature have low self-esteem At present, the prevalence of short stature in children in China is about 1%. The five major pediatric outpatient clinics of Xinhua, Pediatrics and Children’s Medical Center in the city see more than 2,500 cases of children with dwarfism every month, of which more than 90% have psychological problems such as low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, introversion, pessimism and self-shame.
Statistics on children with dwarfism seen nationwide show that growth hormone deficiency accounts for 46.4% of children seen, and idiopathic dwarfism accounts for 27.0%. In fact, these children can be treated effectively with recombinant human growth hormone and other effective treatments. If these children are not treated early, they may end up with a height of only about 1.30 meters in adulthood. However, if timely interventions are made at the right time, dwarfism is not terrible.
Experts remind parents to give their children regular medical checkups for early detection and early diagnosis. If you find that your child is 10 to 15 cm shorter than the average height of children of the same age, or is one or two of the shortest in the class, you should seek medical attention promptly, especially at the pediatric department or endocrinology department of a regular hospital.