Assessment of short stature in children : auxological screening and diagnostic work-up

Abstract

Growth impairment is considered a relatively early sign of poor health in children. Depending on its setting and the age of the child the impairment is expressed in several ways. In industrialized countries, where malnutrition is rare, the major purpose of growth monitoring, implying regular measurements of weight and length, is early detection of growth disorders, such as Turner__s syndrome (TS), Growth Hormone deficiency (GHD) and celiac disease (CD). For an early identification of children with abnormal growth it is important to have correct and well-defined referral criteria as well as a good growth monitoring system, with accurate growth charts and a well defined diagnostic work-up. In this thesis an effort is made to collect evidence on referral criteria and diagnostic procedures for the assessment of short stature in children, leading to a presentation of new guidelines.