Every September 20, World Child Growth Awareness Day is commemorated, which seeks to raise awareness among the population and health professionals about the conditions and importance of knowing and diagnosing child growth disorders of children around the world.
Growth is a complex biological phenomenon influenced by genes, nutrition, environment, health, hormones and growth factors, consisting of the adequate availability and structure of proteins that stimulate cell growth.
In addition, it is a vital part of children’s development and an indicator of their well-being, so if it is not growing properly, there may be an underlying condition that is causing it.
While it is impossible to determine exactly, because development depends on several factors, one of the first elements to consider when making calculations is family history, especially the height of the parents.
“However, when one of the parents has a height under what is considered statistically normal, we must suspect that that parent has a pathology and that that child could inherit it or have better potential,” says Dr. Verónica Mericq, a child endocrinologist at the Maternal and Child Research Institute of the University of Chile.
“Growth disorders are conditions that can affect people’s height, weight, and sometimes sexual development. There are many types of growth disorders, caused by different factors, most of which result in a shorter than expected height and other medical problems,” explains the doctor.
“If growth disorders are left untreated, they can lead to additional health and quality-of-life problems later in life,” he adds.
Today more than 200 conditions are known to affect growth, and they can be associated with serious health implications, such as heart problems, learning problems, visual health, hearing health, respiratory health, bone health, urinary system health, immune system and body composition.
Diagnosis and treatments
“The first thing is to rule out diseases, for example, those of a ‘systemic’ renal type, parasitosis, heart disease, anemia, then hormonal alterations and skeletal, chromosomal or point gene alterations that could affect a smaller size than normal,” explains Mericq.
“If the situation warrants it, there is the possibility of starting early a therapy to improve the size of a child with growth hormone, around two or three years of age” depending on the cause of the short stature, this therapy can be highly efficient in improving the speed of growth and the final height, declares the specialist. Depending on the underlying cause, it can also improve the child’s body composition.
“Healthy controls and pediatric control are essential, because it is this professional who can evaluate whether or not the child recovered his size after the first two years. Otherwise, you can refer him to an endocrinologist to evaluate treatment alternatives, “says the professional.
Indeed, the growth history of a child with short stature is decisive for its treatment. From it, it is necessary to differentiate those who have prenatal growth retardation – due to maternal illness, exposure to toxins and problems in childbirth – from those who are born well and then stop growing as expected.
“The effectiveness of these treatments depends on the age you start. That is, the ideal is to treat these disorders before puberty. Then, treatment may be somewhat late and less effective. That’s why it’s so important to take children to healthy checkups,” warns Dr. Mericq.
For this reason, it is really important that parents keep track of the growth of their children and go to periodic and comprehensive reviews with the pediatrician or attending physician, in order to determine if the child or adolescent requires a study to evaluate their development, and evaluate if it is according to the growth curves according to their age, sex and other environmental factors.
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