Two signs of children with growth hormone disorders need immediate treatment

If the height of the baby is lower than the standard age or during the 6 consecutive months without an additional height of 1 cm, see a doctor.

According to Dr., Dr. Huynh Thoai Loan, Head of Endocrinology, Children's Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is in the top 10 countries with the lowest average height in the world. Currently, the average height of men in our country is 1.63 m, women are 1.53 m, 10 to 13 cm lower than the regional standards, even 4 cm lower than neighboring Cambodia. Stunting often causes children to feel inferiority, which greatly affects their chances of success in life and work.

In fact, many people often think that a child's great potential depends largely on the genetics and height of the children determined by the size of the parents. However, scientific studies have shown that genetic factors contribute only 30% of a child's height development, the remaining 70% depends on nutrition, physical activity, adequate sleep, endocrine. Growth factor (growth hormone - GH) .

In fact, most Vietnamese parents often ignore the height of their children. When he went to school, he saw that he was stunted than his peers, his parents thought about the risk of malnutrition and brought him to the doctor. Among them, many stunted children suffer from growth hormone deficiency, but the nutritionist only advises on tonic houses, eating more but still cannot improve stature, missed the golden time to treat tonic hormone supplements.

According to Dr. Loan, cases of children with growth hormone deficiency need to be treated by supplementing growth hormone to help them achieve maximum height. To know if a child has a deficiency in growth hormone, doctors Loan advises parents to pay attention to two signs. First, his height is lower than the average standard based on the age chart of the World Health Organization (below). Secondly, if you do not see a 1 cm increase in 6 consecutive months, consider the possibility of growth hormone deficiency.

Average height growth chart according to WHO age standard.For example, if your child is two years old, according to this chart, the average height of girls should be 79 to 92cm, boys between 81 and 93cm.

Dr. Loan explains: Growth hormone is a hormone released from the pituitary of the brain. This hormone helps the bones of the baby's bones to become longer and also have the function of metabolism.Children who lack growth hormone will lead to stunting. Adults who lack growth hormones will experience muscle flab, more fat deposits.

There are many reasons for the lack of growth hormone. For example, people who do not have pituitary or pituitary gland do not secrete enough growth hormone. In addition, some congenital diseases also cause this condition, causing the child to be born small compared to gestational age, horn in the womb, called SGA.

Dr. Loan recommends that parents of children with suspected stunting due to growth hormone deficiency should not arbitrarily supplement this hormone but need the advice and treatment of an endocrinologist. This method only applies to cases of depleted growth hormone. Patients need to undergo a rigorous examination at the hospital to determine the dose suitable for the pathological condition to help the child develop maximum height without side effects.

As recommended, hormone therapy for children should be applied as soon as possible and last up to 12 years. After 12 years of age, the bones were closed, so treatment was no longer effective. The hormonal treatment process should be combined with increased physical activity, adequate sleep, adequate diet to help children reach their maximum height.