Common Etiology of 309 Children with Short Stature

Objective To explore the common etiology of 309 children with short stature.Methods Three hundred and nine children with short stature in the affiliated children′s hospital of Nanjing medical university were collected,among them 204 were males,aged (8.76±3.43) years;105 females,aged (8.57±3.33) years.The etiology of short stature manifestations was diagnosed by detailed medical history collection,physical examination,and laboratory examination.Statistics was analyzed by SPSS 13.0.Two-tailed t-test (same variance) was performed to compare the age between male and female in each short stature group.Multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze the significant differentiation of gender or age among each short stature group.Multiple-comparison was performed to analyze the subjective significance of gender or age factor among each short stature group.Results One hundred and five cases (34%) were diagnosed as idiopathic short stature,105 cases (34%) were diagnosed as growth hormone deficiency,53 cases (17.2%) were diagnosed as constitutional delay of growth and puberty,the rest of the short statures were attributed for hypothyroidism(16 cases,5.1%),familial short stature(13 cases,4.2%),Turner syndrome(10 cases,3.2%),and intrauterine growth retardation(7 cases,2.3%).There was no significant difference of the age between male and female in each group(Pa0.05).There were significant differences of sex and age among different groups by multivariate analysis of variance(Pa0.05).Conclusions Idiopathic short stature,growth hormone deficiency and constitutional delay of growth and puberty are common diseases.Growth hormone deficiency is the most common reason among female.It is important to collect detailed medical history,physical examination and laboratory examination.It will help the early diagnosis and treatment of short stature children.