Types of growth disorders
Poor weight gain
Poor weight gain is not a growth disorder. It is a label given to children whose weight or rate of weight gain is significantly lower than other children of the same age..
Poor weight gain can be caused by many factors:
- insufficient intake
- increased nutritional needs
- problems with absorption of nutrients
Regardless of its cause, some children who experience poor weight gain may eventually also experience growth problems, such as slow or stalled growth.
Short stature
Short stature is also a descriptive label that refers to children whose height or height velocity (rate of height gain) is lower than other children of the same age. Not all children with short stature have a growth disorder. Short stature can have some of the same causes as poor weight gain. More commonly, it is associated with genetics and not disease. Some children grow more slowly, reach puberty at a later age, and stop growing at a later age and so they reach normal heights. This is called constitutional delay of growth and puberty.
Other children with short stature have parents who are shorter. They grow at the expected rate but are still shorter than other children their age. This may be because they will inherit their parent's final height. This is called familial short stature.
A health-care provider uses the heights of both parents to calculate a projected final height for a child as well as a child’s height velocity to determine if further investigations are needed.
Endocrine diseases
The endocrine system is the body's chemical messenger system. It transports hormones throughout the body. The hormones help regulate processes in the body, including growth. When there is a disorder with the endocrine system, growth can be stunted.
Endocrine disorders include:
- Growth hormone deficiency: This rare disease happens when a child has little or no growth hormone. Growth hormone is made by the pituitary gland. Growth hormone stimulates growth through chemical interactions in the body. Without it, or without enough of it, growth is slowed or stunted completely.
- Hypothyroidism: This is a condition caused by low levels of thyroid hormone in the blood. Without enough of this hormone, babies can suffer from poor brain development. Older children can have slow growth and slow metabolism.
Turner syndrome
Short stature is found in girls with Turner syndrome. Turner syndrome is when a girl is born with a missing or damaged X chromosome. Girls with Turner syndrome are not able to reproduce because their ovaries do not develop properly. They may also show other physical signs.