The problem of a child with short stature in the paediatrician’s and family doctor’s office
Ewa Gramatyka-Drążek, Artur Mazur
Height and weight measurements are an important element of every child’s visit to the paediatrician’s or family doctor’s office. Short stature is defined as a height below the 3rd percentile for age and sex. It is important to identify children in the short stature group (3% of the population) whose short height is not due to familial factors and therefore requires treatment. Correct measurement of the child’s height followed by its plotting onto a sex- and age-appropriate percentile chart is the first step to identify the problem of short stature in a child. This should be followed by determining the target height and growth rate. Therefore, regular updating of child’s medical record book is of key importance. Diagnostic work-up is needed in children with height below the 3rd percentile or with height difference of more than 2 percentile channels compared to the mean parental height, as well as in children with excessively slow growth rate (indicated by progressive decrease of percentile height position).