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 Question:
I have a child of 10 years and the problem is that he is short and not growing tall. He is diabetic from childhood and is on insulin. Mentally he is okay and doing well in school. He is not plump. Can you let us know that what should be done to remove doubts of disease? Concerned parents, Songea
Answer: When a child or his parents complaint of short stature particular attention should focus on following things: There is a possibility that child has some systemic disorder, especially of the intestine, and in that case child will be complaining of loose motion and may be other gastric problems. We need to check the evidence of any skeletal or other congenital abnormalities. The endocrine system, in particular thyroid disease should be check and tested for. Dietary intake and use of drugs, specially use of steroids for asthma should be checked. Emotional, psychological, family and school problems are other things that need to be looked into. It could be simply a family short in stature, which means all the members are short. Having said all these you mentioned that the child has had diabetes since childhood and maybe this systemic disease could be the cause of his short stature. Slow-growing children require full endocrine assessment and probably other tests. |
