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• Diagnosis and Tests

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Summary

Does your child seem much shorter - or much taller - than other kids his or her age? It could be normal. Some children may be small for their age but still be developing normally. Some children are short or tall because their parents are.

But some children have growth disorders. Growth disorders are problems that prevent children from developing normal height, weight, sexual maturity or other features.

Very slow or very fast growth can sometimes signal a gland problem or disease.

The pituitary gland makes growth hormone, which stimulates the growth of bone and other tissues. Children who have too little of it may be very short. Treatment with growth hormone can stimulate growth.

People can also have too much growth hormone. Usually the cause is a pituitary gland tumor, which is not cancer. Too much growth hormone can cause gigantism in children, where their bones and their body grow too much. In adults, it can cause acromegaly, which makes the hands, feet and face larger than normal. Possible treatments include surgery to remove the tumor, medicines, and radiation therapy.

Diagnosis and Tests

• Growth Charts (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Growth Hormone Tests (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor 1) Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• X-Ray Exam: Bone Age Study (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Health Alert: Adrenal Crisis Causes Death in Some People Who Were Treated with hGH (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
• Human Growth Hormone (HGH): Does It Slow Aging? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Information for People Treated with Pituitary Human Growth Hormone (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

Specifics

• Acromegaly (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
• Growth Hormone Deficiency (Endocrine Society)
• Noonan Syndrome (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Genetics

• Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Cockayne syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• DNMT3A overgrowth syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Floating-Harbor syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Geleophysic dysplasia: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Isolated growth hormone deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Laron syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Mosaic variegated aneuploidy syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Noonan syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Russell-Silver syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Short stature, hyperextensibility, hernia, ocular depression, Rieger anomaly, and teething delay: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Sotos syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Warsaw breakage syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Weaver syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Wiedemann-Rautenstrauch syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• X-linked acrogigantism: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• X-linked spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia tarda: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)

Statistics and Research

• FastStats: Body Measurements (National Center for Health Statistics)
• Stature-for-Age and Weight-for-Age Percentiles: Boys, 2 to 20 Years (National Center for Health Statistics) - PDF Also in Spanish
• Stature-for-Age and Weight-for-Age Percentiles: Girls 2 to 20 Years (National Center for Health Statistics) - PDF Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Acromegaly (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Failure to Thrive (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Growth Disorders (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: The effect of early childhood stature on later cognitive functions in...
• Article: Dysbiosis of gut microbiota with enriched pro-inflammatory species in children with...
• Article: Effect of biologic treatments on growth in children with juvenile idiopathic...
• Growth Disorders -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Also in Spanish
• Find an Endocrinologist (Endocrine Society)

Children

• Failure to Thrive (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Growth Failure in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

Teenagers

• Delayed Puberty (For Teens) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Growth Problems (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Acromegaly (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Delayed growth (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Failure to thrive (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Gigantism (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Growth chart (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Growth hormone deficiency - children (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Growth hormone test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Short stature (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish