What should I do if my child is short? Should HGH be beaten?
"When the epiphyseal line of the child is closed, there are not many chances to grow taller." On August 19, at the "China Children's Health Communication Action - Guangzhou Station" activity launched by the Second People's Hospital of Guangdong Province, Li Ping, deputy chief physician of the hospital's secretion department, told reporters: "70%-80% of a child's height depends on the inheritance of parents, and about 30% comes from acquired factors. If the epiphyseal line is closed, even if medical means are used, the probability of promoting the child's growth again is very small, so when it is found that the child's height is not ideal, you should seize the time window to seek medical attention as soon as possible. ”
The parents are short in height, and the 10-year-old child is only 1.3 meters
Compared with 20 years ago, the rate of growth disorders, obesity/overweight visits and sexual development disorders in children and adolescents is increasing. Xu Gugen, director of the Department of Endocrinology of the Second Provincial Hospital, said that this reflects the current changes in the spectrum of endocrine diseases, especially short stature, which has attracted more and more attention from parents.
"We are not tall, my father is only 1.65 meters, I am only 1.46 meters, my son is 10 years old, he is only 1.3 meters tall, and he is at the back of the class. We're also a little worried about his height right now. At the event, a mother spoke about her concerns.
When Li Ping saw the child's height and weight percentage curves, she found that the child's height was in a short area. "We can use the height of parents to predict the genetic target height of children, such as boy height = (father's height + mother's height +13)/2±5 cm; Girl's height = (father's height + mother's height -13) / 2±5 cm. The child's expected height is 162 cm ± 5 cm, which means that the child's height is 167 cm and the shortest is 157 cm. Secondly, the child's height can be regularly monitored every 3 months and effectively assessed through the growth and development chart. Then look at the child's growth rate, such as the annual growth rate from the age of 3 to before puberty
According to reports, at present, clinically generally use the standard deviation method or percentile method to judge short stature, that is, the height of the child is lower than 2 standard deviations or 3 percentiles of normal children of the same age, sex, region, and race, which can be diagnosed as short stature. Or simply put, if the child is 5-10 cm shorter than children of the same age, it should attract the attention of parents.
Li Ping told reporters that from a clinical point of view, more than half of parents do not know that 0-3 years old need to observe children's height, and more than 1/3 of parents do not have the habit of scientifically measuring children's height; 30% of parents mistakenly believe that as long as nutrition keeps up, height can catch up; More than 70% of parents do not know enough about short stature. It can be seen that parents also have many misunderstandings in the growth and development of children.
Lack of growth hormone, can be medically supplemented to promote taller
"The child's height is on the short side, we need to learn more about the child's diet and sleep, and at the same time do some tests to see how the child's growth hormone is, and if it is a growth hormone deficiency, we can make necessary supplements." Li Ping said.
How effective is growth hormone supplementation for children with short stature? Li Ping said that what is missing to make up, growth hormone deficiency short stature children supplementation of growth hormone can promote growth of height, although each person's efficacy is different, but the best case encountered is that children can grow 1 cm a month.
It is worth noting that if the epiphyseal line is closed, even supplementation of growth hormone has no effect, but will lead to acromegaly, so the use of growth hormone to treat short stature also has strict indications and contraindications. "We recommend that children with short stature may consider growth hormone therapy after 3 years of age, because the dose of drug used is proportional to body weight, and the older the age, the greater the weight, the greater the dose of drug used." For example, Li Ping said that a child weighing 20 kilograms, supplementing powder growth hormone, injected every day, the cost of a month is about 675 yuan, and he can inject at home and then go to the hospital regularly to check the treatment effect.
Increase nutrition, outdoor activities to bask in the sun
"Children have been learning to dance for years, and their weight is low and their height is not ideal." This is a common anxiety problem in the mom group. "My child is 10 years old, 1.36 meters tall and weighs only 29 pounds. Although she weighs low, she is already a not underweight child in the dance team. "While asking the child to control his weight, he also wants to promote his growth and height, which makes Xiao's mother very entangled.
Li Ping said that from this case, it is necessary to understand the child's nutrition and sleep problems in detail. If the child exercises a lot and the intake of nutrients is insufficient, the weight will be low, which will also affect the child's height. Therefore, we recommend supplementing more protein, such as beef, chicken, seafood, etc. Sleep is also important, because during sleep the child himself secretes growth hormone, it is recommended that school-age children go to bed no later than 22:00 and sleep for more than 8-9 hours.
At the same time, a little more outdoor activity, because exposure to sufficient sunlight for 20-30 minutes is conducive to the synthesis of enough vitamin D in the body, which is equivalent to an increase in vitamin D storage in the body by 2000IU to 3000IU.
Text, photo/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Zhang Hua Correspondent He Haoshu
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Responsible Editor | Wang Moyi
Proofreading | Peng Jiye