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[Growth, skeletal and dental age in chronic diarrhea in childhood]
Insights
Accurate diagnosis of chronic diarrhea in children is crucial for growth and development. Early detection and treatment significantly improve outcomes, outweighing symptom duration in long-term health.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Gastroenterology
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- Chronic diarrhea affects numerous children, with diverse causes and mechanisms.
- Long-term impacts on growth, dental, and bone age require thorough investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the long-term effects of chronic diarrhea on growth, dental age, and bone age in children.
- To compare outcomes in children with celiac disease versus other causes of chronic diarrhea.
Main Methods:
- A longitudinal study followed 111 children over 5-7 years.
- Assessed growth, dental age, and bone age in children with celiac disease (49 cases) and non-celiac chronic diarrhea (62 cases).
Main Results:
- Celiac disease cases showed good clinical and auxological recovery.
- Non-celiac chronic diarrhea led to significant changes in growth, dental, and bone age.
- Dental and bone age retardation correlated positively with both chronic diarrhea and celiac disease.
Conclusions:
- Accurate diagnosis is key to clinical progress in pediatric chronic diarrhea.
- Dental age assessment is vital alongside bone age and auxological parameters for monitoring.
- Symptom duration showed no significant correlation with auxological or age-related changes.
Abstract:
Chronic diarrhea is a common disease in children; several etiological agents and pathogenetic mechanisms are responsible for causing the illness. In order to evaluate the long term effects of chronic diarrhea on growth, dental and bone age the authors have examined 111 children in a 7 years follow-up for coeliac disease (49 cases) and a 5 years follow-up for chronic diarrhea caused by different agents (62 cases). All the coeliac diseases show a good clinical and auxological evolution, whereas aspecific chronic diarrhea shows important changes in growth, in dental and bone age. Clinical progress of the disease is therefore strictly related to the accuracy of the diagnosis, while the duration of the illness is of little importance. Our study does not show any correlation between changes in auxological tests or in dental and bone age and the length of symptoms (r = -0.150 N.S.). The authors stress the importance of the evaluation of dental age together with bone age and auxological parameters in monitoring children with chronic diarrhea; in all observed cases dental and bone age retardation showed a positive correlation both with chronic diarrhea (r = 0.608; p less than 0.03) and coeliac disease (r = 0.411; p less than 0.02).