The common causes of short stature in children are I. Growth hormone deficiency Growth hormone deficiency is due to insufficient secretion of growth hormone by the pituitary gland, which makes the child’s height significantly lag behind that of children of the same age and gender, and the growth rate often slows down after the first year of age, with a growth rate of less than 4cm/year.
Central precocious puberty Due to precocious puberty, the child’s bone age is advanced, the epiphysis closes early, the growth potential is impaired, and the child’s growth period is shortened, resulting in short adult stature.
Idiopathic short stature The child has a proportional body shape, the height is lower than the third percentile or two standard deviations of the height of children of the same age and sex, the intelligence and sexual development are normal, and the growth hormone stimulation test result is normal. If the child has familial dwarfism, the parents tend to be short in stature.
4. Delayed physical puberty: Slow growth before puberty, backward bone age, delayed sexual development, once development starts, rapid growth, can reach normal height, one parent often has a history of delayed puberty. It is more common in boys.
V. Chromosomal disorders There are also hypogonadism, short neck, webbed neck, elbow ectropion, etc. Chromosomal examination can confirm the diagnosis. In addition to short stature, congenital dwarfism also has features such as backward intelligence and special facial features.
Intrauterine growth retardation, also known as less than fetal age, is a condition in which height and weight at birth are lower than the 10th percentile for children of the same age, and some children have no catch-up growth after birth, resulting in height lag.
Congenital chondrodysplasia is a congenital genetic disorder, which belongs to cartilaginous bone defects, and is the most common type of dwarf, clinically characterized by short limbs and short stature.
VIII. Congenital hypothyroidism, also known as cretinism, is a disproportionate body shape, with long upper body and short lower limbs, lagging intelligence, special facial features and hypothyroidism. With the popularity of screening technology, generally detected and treated after birth, cretinism can be avoided.
Nine, other including heart, liver, kidney and other chronic diseases, long-term malnutrition, genetic metabolic diseases (such as glycogen accumulation disease, mucopolysaccharidosis, congenital adrenocortical hyperplasia, etc.), as well as psychological factors, environment, etc. may affect the height of the child.