Children with chronic conditions: the importance of growth assessment.
Growth assessment is crucial in the evaluation of all children. The growth of children with chronic conditions is often inadequately assessed by subspecialty services because of the following beliefs: (1) short stature is secondary to the disorder and therefore the cause is known, (2) poor growth is caused by a syndrome and is untreatable, and (3) growth is assessed adequately by the children's primary care providers. In reality, growth failure in children with chronic conditions may be caused by other factors and may be treatable. In addition, growth is often inadequately assessed by primary health care providers. Growth abnormalities should never be ignored or minimized in populations of children having other significant health care problems.
Lipman
T H
TH
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, 420 Guardian Dr, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
McKnight
H J
HJ
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D011320:Primary Health Care