The earlier a child with dwarfism is treated, the better the outcome. Fifty percent of parents of children with dwarfism are prone to the three major misconceptions about their children’s height being lower than that of their peers, such as “late growth, lack of nutrition and family genetics”, thus missing the best time to diagnose and treat dwarfism and leaving lifelong regrets.
Dwarfism is a condition in which the height is lower than the average height of the normal population of the same sex and age by 2 standard deviations (-2SD) or below the 3rd percentile (-1.88SD), and the growth rate is insufficient to cause alarm, such as <7cm/year for children <2 years old, <5cm/year for children from 4 years old to puberty, and <6cm/year for children in puberty. There are many causes of short stature, such as growth hormone deficiency, idiopathic short stature, small for gestational age, familial short stature, delayed somatic puberty, hypothyroidism, chromosomal disorders such as Turner syndrome, and some skeletal disorders. Not all dwarfism needs to be treated, such as delayed somatic puberty; not all short stature can be treated, such as congenital neocartilage dysplasia; but all other causes of dwarfism should be given treatment, and if the diagnosis is late, the epiphysis is nearly closed and the treatment is missed, it cannot be treated. Research shows that the younger the child is, the more active the proliferation and differentiation of the cartilage layer of the epiphysis, the greater the growth potential and space, the more sensitive the response to treatment, and the better the growth effect; moreover, the younger the child is, the lighter the weight, the smaller the dose of medication and the smaller the cost. Therefore, it is important not to wait until the later stages of development, such as 15-18 years old, when the epiphysis is close to closing and the growth potential is small, it is no longer possible to reach the ideal height.