Short children, when to worry? Calculate what your adult height will be – time.news

from Elena Meli

Worries are almost always unjustified and rarely attributable to a pathology. Growth hormone should be reserved for only a few selected cases

Half beauty height, the saying goes. And so when a child seems not to soar and not grow enough, parents worry a lot: they compel the growth curves in the pediatric booklet, ask the doctor if something is wrong, start thinking about supplements or even drugs to give a boost to development. Not always for a height not really from watusso hides something that should worry and recently a study published in the Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism has taken stock of the diagnostic path to be taken to understand whether short stature is a growth disorder or not : as the authors point out.

In many cases there is no underlying disease and it is then referred to “idiopathic” short stature. The fact remains that poor growth is still one of the reasons why parents more often resort toendocrinologistas he explains Mariacarolina Salernopresident of the Italian Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology (SIEDP) and director of the Endocrinological Pediatrics Unit of the Department of Translational Medical Sciences of the Federico II University of Naples: perception of insufficient height to create stress emotivo

and physical in children and parentsso the specialists also come small who are not really low and the casuistry wide. The short stature is defined as a negative deviation of two standard deviations from the predicted height for age, gender and ethnic group: it is estimated that it affects only 3-5 percent of the population.

WHO IS THE GROWTH HORMONE RESERVED

Environment, nutrition, genetic factors

For many, therefore, the missing centimeters are completely normal and connected to one small family stature or to a growth retardation which will then be bridged by reaching the so-called target height. L’environmentespecially the‘Power supply, affects the final height, as shown by the fact that the new generations are on average higher than those of the past, observes Salerno. However the80 percent of the variability in the population depends on hereditary genetic factors e the genes involved are numerous. Translated, if in the family mom, dad and grandparents are little ones it is difficult for the child to have a giant size; despite this, these children are often taken to the pediatrician who, to understand if the poor growth falls into the category of short family stature, measures weight and height and compares them with the reference average for the same age. Furthermore, as Salerno specifies, we must above all consider the rate of growth: if normal and the beginning of puberty comparable with that of peers and if the bone age (can be verified with an x-ray, ed) in accordance with thata age, adult height will be within the expected range based on family history and parental heights. Which, however, is good for the doctor to measure, because there is often an overestimation.

The formula for calculating the height

Having the height of the parents available, it is possible to hypothesize how tall the child will be as an adult with a simple formula from which thetarget height. There are also many cases in which everything is resolved with the passage of time, as in constitutional retardation of growth and pubertal: a kind of delayed flowering that often also affected one or more family members of the child, so again a careful collection of the family medical history is enough to reassure oneself. These babies have a normal birth weight and a low growth rate in the first three to five years, which becomes adequate only afterwards; this causes them to enter puberty a little shorter than their peers but then they have a noticeable acceleration and in most cases they reach a completely standard height, says Salerno. Then there are babies born small for their gestational age: the majority recovers already within the first two years of life, alone 10-15 percent do not and therefore have a short stature throughout childhood.

Exams

In most cases there is nothing to worry about, however it is important tocareful evaluation in order not to miss pathological causes of short stature: not growing sufficiently due to a late diagnosis of an actual problem has a considerable negative impact as adults, observes the expert. Therefore, if on the one hand it is not necessary to go into too much depth in children with a normal variant of growth in order not to create unjustified anxieties, on the other hand if there is a suspected pathological good investigate thoroughly through blood and urine tests, measurement of the levels of certain hormones, x-rays to evaluate bone development and if necessary through genetic investigationsconcludes Salerno.

Diet

And when you grow too much? The height of the population grew after the Second World War, when the diet became more abundant. confirmed that proteins are essential for ideal growth also from a recent study by the German University of Bonn: researchers have shown that in adolescents aged 15 to 17 years, introducing seven grams of protein more every day than the daily requirement leads to an increase of one centimeter in adult height. A fact that is not observed in males, perhaps because in this age group that nutrition counts the boost of hormones, testosterone above all. This can also be exploited in reverse, as the authors explain: Girls fear a height of more than 180 centimeters: adjusting the protein intake and avoiding an excess can be useful to contain growth in those who are afraid of getting too high.

October 17, 2022 (change October 17, 2022 | 19:45)

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