Short stature is a common cause of concern among children and adolescents, and their parents. Three per cent of the population has a height below the percentile and will be noticeably short; however, probably fewer than one per cent of the percentage will have a primary endocrine defect. In order to detect such children, careful clinical assessment and measurements of the height velocity are needed to separate those who are small, but growing normally, from those who are failing to grow. For the latter, a diagnosis is needed in order for the appropriate treatment to be instituted without delay.
The state of nutrition may help to point the diagnostic pathway, but any child who is growing slowly should have a diagnostic investigation to determine the cause.
