“What can cause growth disorders in children?”
I am a 32 year old female. My 6 year old son is behind on his growth. What can cause growth disorders in children?
4 Answers
Depends on how much behind he is. And other developments. Some children are early "bloomers" some are late 'bloomers." However, if it's significant, the lack of growth hormone from the pituitary can be responsible. An endocrinologist should be consulted. An MRI of the Pituitary could be in order. Your pediatrician should have some ideas if this within a certain percentage of "normal" or if he is really far behind. Low thyroid also can cause growth retardation. That is easy to check with a blood test. Is there a familial incidence of small adults? So, in summary: genetic, Pituitary, just late in growth spurt, or thyroid deficiency would all need attention.
You will need to consult with a pediatric Endocrinologist and check his growth hormone and thyroid hormone .
To know about growth, we need to know 2 things in addition to the child's age & Ht. We need to know his genetics ( how tall are his parents, siblings & some recent ancesters) and we need a growth chart to chart his rate of growth & predicted adult height. So low growth may be due to many factors such as genetics ( we would not expect a child of pygmy parents to be a 7 foot basketball player). There can be many causes of growth failure such as delayed puberty or delayed growth spurt but if he is well behind on growth & growth rate, he should have a work up for growth hormone deficiency. This can be genetic or not, and can be a problem of growth hormone secretion by the pituitary gland in the brain or a problem of the hormone not working because of a deficiency of a chemical called IGF1 in the blood. Growth hormone & IGF1 & some other things can be tested for and treated. So see a pediatric endocrinologist to evaluate growth, rate of growth, and hormone levels to be sure of cause.
There are several medical conditions that can affect his growth, for example growth hormone deficiency, anemia, renal tubular acidosis, hypocalcemia, vitamin d deficiency, hypothyroidism, pseudohypoparathyroidism, celiac disease, crohn's disease, etc. Please take him to a pediatric endocrinologist to be correctly evaluated.
