Etiologies, profile patterns and characteristics of children with short stature in Jordan

Childhood growth influences their social and psychological behavior, and abnormal growth may reflect underlying pathological etiologies. It is important to diagnose children with short stature as early as possible to be able to manage treatable causes. We aim to study etiologies and characteristics of short stature in children in Jordan.

This is a cross-sectional retrospective review of the medical records of children diagnosed with short stature at a referral university hospital. Clinical characteristics, auxological, laboratory, and radiological investigations were collected and analyzed.

Among a total of 551 children diagnosed with short stature, the number of boys was significantly higher than girls, 304 (55.2%) and 247 (44.8%), respectively with a p-value of 0.015. Average age at presentation for all patients was 10.24 ± 3.23, with no significant difference between boys and girls. Pathological etiology was higher than normal variants 55.7 and 44.3%, respectively with p=0.007. Constitutional delay of growth and puberty (CDGP) was the most frequent cause in the normal variant group, 59.8%. Among the pathological group, the most common etiology was growth hormone deficiency (32.2%) with mean age of presentation of 9.40 years and was not significantly different from the age in other etiological groups, 9.44 years and p=0.931.

Growth monitoring of children should start at an early age for boys and girls. Referral to the pediatric endocrine clinic should be considered when growth problems are suspected for accurate diagnosis and etiology profiling.