Assessment of Causes of Short Stature in Children Attending Suez Canal University Hospital

Background: Short stature is one of the most common referral causes to endocrinology pediatrics clinics. It is defined as a child with two standard deviations or more below the mean height for children of the same gender and chronological age. It occurs in about one in every 25,000–30,000 persons worldwide. Although short stature is not a disease, it may be a symptom of many diseases. So early detection allows the best chance for appropriate management. Aim: To describe the most common etiological factors of short stature in children attending Suez Canal University Hospital. Patients and Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study involving all children attending the pediatric clinic or admitted inpatients whose age (2 -15) years old complained of short stature or were accidentally discovered to be short in the routine general examination. Results: A sample of 264 children complain of short stature. There were 26 (9.8%) participants with non-pathological short stature; 24 had familial short stature and 2 had constitutional short stature. There were 238 (90.2%) had pathological short stature; among them, 30 had nutritional diseases, 68 idiopathic, 125 endocrinal diseases (85 growth hormone deficiency, 16 hypothyroidism, 3 Addison, 5 rickets, and 16 diabetic), 2 had turner syndrome, and 13 had chronic diseases; (3 myelodysplastic syndrome, 3ulcerative colitis, 1 thalassemia, 4 celiac and 2 chronic chest disease (asthma). Conclusions: pathological short stature was more common than non-pathological causes. The most common cause of short stature was Growth hormone deficiency