Failure to thrive in infants and young children
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Failure to thrive, a growth disorder in children, is often diagnosed through medical history, physical exams, and lab tests. Identifying prenatal, genetic, familial, and environmental factors is key to management.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Child Health
- Growth Disorders
Background:
- Failure to thrive (FTT) is a significant clinical syndrome in infancy and early childhood.
- It is characterized by growth failure without an obvious underlying medical cause.
- FTT impacts child development and requires timely diagnosis and intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To outline the diagnostic approach to failure to thrive.
- To identify the key factors contributing to FTT.
- To emphasize the role of the family physician in managing FTT.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive patient history taking.
- Thorough physical examinations.
- Targeted laboratory and radiographic investigations.
Main Results:
- Most cases of FTT are diagnosed through careful clinical evaluation and standard diagnostic studies.
- Prenatal, genetic, familial, constitutional, and environmental factors are frequently implicated.
- Hospitalization can be effective for both diagnosis and initial treatment.
Conclusions:
- The etiology of failure to thrive can be identified in most cases through a systematic approach.
- Multifactorial causes, including environmental and genetic influences, are common.
- Family physicians are well-positioned to manage pediatric patients with failure to thrive.
Abstract:
Failure to thrive is a syndrome of infancy and early childhood, characterized by growth failure for no apparent cause. A careful history, thorough physical examination, and relatively simple laboratory and radiographic studies will identify the cause of the problem in most instances. Prenatal, genetic, familial, constitutional, and environmental factors are most important. Hospitalization for diagnostic evaluation is often effective from a therapeutic standpoint as well. The family physician is in a favorable position to manage most pediatric patients who fail to thrive.