A prospective study of etiology and clinical characteristics of children with short stature and response to treatment

OBJECTIVE: To study the etiological and clinical profile of children presenting with short stature and to assess growth velocity in children after 6 months of treatment.METHODS: This prospective observational study was conducted between January 2017 to May 2018. One hundred consecutive children attending the outpatient department for short stature were thoroughly evaluated clinically and investigations were done as deemed necessary. The cases were followed up for 6 months to assess the growth velocity.RESULTS: Female to male ratio was 1.56. Nutritional short stature (NSS) and normal variant short stature were the most prevalent, with the equal frequency of 19% each, followed by endocrine and other causes. The significant number of children had Vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency (92%). mid-parental height (MPH) was below-1 standard deviation score (SDS) from the national standard in all the children studied.CONCLUSION: In the present study, normal variants of short stature and NSS were the most common causes of short stature, followed by endocrine disorders. Vitamin D status was low in the majority of the children (92%), with possible contribution to short stature in all groups irrespective of primary diagnosis and needs further exploration. Growth hormone (GH) therapy in select non GH deficiency short stature can be promising. We also noted that maternal, paternal heights, and consequently, MPH was below the national standard in 100% of children. This may implicate ethnic variations and maybe a call for local growth charts. It needs further studies to look for factors responsible for lower MPH in our cohort.