ANALYSIS OF FREQUENCY OF ETIOLOGICAL FACTORS OF SHORT STATURE IN CHILDREN

Introduction: The growth of a child is a dynamic process and shows general health of that child. Short stature by definition is height or length less than 2 SD or below 3^rd centile. This study describes the etiology of short stature in children because early recognition and treatment will not only result in normal height gain but will also avoid complications.

Objective: To determine the etiology of short stature in children.

Study Design: Cross sectional study.

Place And Duration Of Study: Department of paediatrics, Jinnah hospital Lahore over a period of six months i.e. April to September 2016.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 385 patients of short stature were enrolled in the study. All patients underwent detailed medical history and physical examination followed by required investigations. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 20. Age and height were presented as mean and standard deviation while etiology of short stature was presented as frequency and percentage.

Results: The mean of children was 8.30±3.67 years. Among 385 children 189 were male and 196 were female. Regarding etiology, 131 children had normal variant short stature, 91 had 3^rd degree malnutrition, 51 had celiac disease and 112 had hypothyroidism.

Conclusion: Most common etiology of short stature in children was normal variant short stature followed by hypothyroidism, 3^rd degree malnutrition and celiac disease.

Keywords: Short stature, Hypothyroidism, Malnutrition