Summary
Differentials
Common
- Familial short stature (genetic short stature)
- Constitutional delay of growth and development
- Idiopathic short stature
- Small for gestational age (SGA) without catch-up growth by 2 years of age
Uncommon
- Growth hormone (GH) deficiency
- Hypothyroidism
- Cushing syndrome
- GH insensitivity (Laron syndrome)
- Craniopharyngioma
- Turner syndrome
- Noonan syndrome
- Russell-Silver syndrome
- Trisomy 21
- Prader-Willi syndrome
- DiGeorge syndrome (velocardiofacial syndrome)
- Coeliac disease
- Cystic fibrosis
- Asthma (moderate or severe)
- Chronic heart disease (congenital or acquired)
- Diabetes mellitus
- Chronic renal failure
- Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
- Crohn's disease
- Ulcerative colitis
- Malignancy
- Renal tubular acidosis
- Rickets
- Skeletal dysplasias (e.g., achondroplasia, hypochondroplasia, osteogenesis imperfecta)
- Spinal disorders (irradiation, surgery, congenital deformities)
- Psychosocial deprivation (abuse, neglect, starvation, institutionalisation)
- Anorexia nervosa
- Bulimia nervosa
- Fetal alcohol syndrome
- Stimulant medications for ADHD
Contributors
Authors
Renee Bargman, MS, MD

Director of Pediatric Endocrinology
Nassau University Medical Center
East Meadow
NY
Disclosures
RB declares that she has no competing interests.
Maria Vogiatzi, MD

Associate Professor of Pediatrics - Clinician Educator
Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia
PA
Disclosures
MV declares that she has no competing interests.
Peer reviewers
Ian Marshall, MD
Chief of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology
Assistant Professor
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
New Brunswick
NY
Disclosures
IM declares that he has no competing interests.
Raphael David, MD
Professor of Pediatrics
Director
Pediatric Endocrinology
New York University Medical Center
New York
NY
Disclosures
RD declares that he has no competing interests.
Guidelines
- Diagnosis, genetics, and therapy of short stature in children: a Growth Hormone Research Society international perspective
- Faltering growth: recognition and management of faltering growth in children
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