The results of a clinic for children with dwarfism reveal a lack of awareness among parents

It is understood that 50% of the parents of children with dwarfism have the perception that their children’s height is lower than that of their peers, and are prone to three major misconceptions such as “children grow late, no lack of nutrition and family genetics”, thus missing the best time to diagnose and treat dwarfism, thus leaving lifelong regrets. According to the survey, at least half of the parents of children with dwarfism think that their children’s height is related to family genetic inheritance, and that it is normal for their children to be short because their parents are not tall, and the result is the same with or without treatment; a quarter of the parents think that their children’s height is lower than that of children of the same age because they are late in development, which is a late growth, resulting in some of them going to the hospital only when they are close to puberty, missing the best time for treatment; a quarter of the parents think that if they give their children sufficient nutrition every day, their children will not be able to grow. More than 80% of parents do not have the necessary knowledge about the harm caused by children’s short stature. Many parents do not know that their children’s slow growth is also a disease, and they either leave their children’s height to time or spend a lot of money to supplement their children’s nutrition and use height-enhancing devices, while these blind measures often delay treatment and even backfire.  Dwarfism is partly caused by organic diseases and partly caused by non-disease factors.1. Disease-induced etiology: including endocrine abnormalities, skeletal lesions or other diseases, among which growth hormone deficiency is the most common, followed by precocious puberty, and partly caused by intrauterine growth retardation or chromosomal abnormalities, etc.2. Non-disease factors: including familial dwarfism, somatic dwarfism, and Physiological delay in puberty development, etc.  It is known that the prevalence of dwarfism in China is about 3%. Although the incidence rate is high, it is not terrible. What is terrible is that many parents do not understand the relevant knowledge and do not pay attention to the problem of short stature of their children. More than half of parents do not know that they need to observe their children’s height from 0 to 3 years old; 1/3 of parents do not have the habit of measuring their children’s height scientifically; 30% of parents mistakenly believe that their children’s height can catch up as long as they keep up with nutrition; 75% of parents do not know that children with short stature should go to the pediatric outpatient clinic for examination.  Parents are reminded that children’s height growth is regular, generally 50cm at birth, and the fastest growth from 0 to 1 year of age during infancy, 25cm a year; there is also a period of puberty, which is different for boys and girls. Parents can observe whether their children are short by taking them for a physical examination or comparing their height with children of the same age. If they are 5-10cm shorter than children of the same age, parents should pay attention to them and take them to the hospital for examination in time.  In addition to disease factors such as growth hormone and thyroid hormone deficiency and genetic factors, poor lifestyle such as lack of sleep and serious nutritional imbalance have become important causes of the increase in the number of children with dwarfism, which should be brought to the attention of parents. In addition, many children with dwarfism have different psychological disorders such as low self-esteem and depression, and their size deficiency also directly affects their future education, employment and marriage. Early detection of dwarfism is completely curable, and the “golden age” for height growth is from 3 to 6 years old, which is also the best time to treat dwarfism patients.  Let’s seize the opportunity to give our children the ideal height and win the ideal height for them.