title: Causes of short stature identified in children presenting at a tertiary care hospital in Multan Pakistan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the frequency of common causes of short stature in children presenting to the Children's Hospital & the Institute of Child Health, Multan.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross sectional study was done in Pediatric Endocrinology department, the Children's Hospital & the Institute of Child Health, Multan, from March to September, 2011. One hundred and sixty nine children with short stature presenting to the outpatient department meeting inclusion criteria were recruited after taking an informed consent. The detailed history, physical examination including anthropometric measurements and relevant investigations were recorded. Causes of short stature (outcome variable) were recorded on a predesigned proforma for final analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The common causes of short stature identified were; familial short stature (FSS) 36 cases (21.3%), hypothyroidism 29(17.2%), growth hormone deficiency (GHD) 18(10.7%), insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) 16(9.5%) and constitutional delayed growth and maturation (CDGM) 11(6.5%) cases. This was followed by primary malnutrition 8(4.7%), celiac disease 6(3.6%),Turner syndrome 5(3%) cases and unknown syndromes 4(2.4%) followed by other rare causes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Common causes of short stature identified in this study were endocrine diseases followed by normal variant short stature (NVSS), while nonendocrine causes were the least.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Muhammad Waqar Rabbani, DCH, FCPS, Department of Pediatric Medicine, The Children Hospital & The Institute of Child Health, Multan, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Waqar Rabbani
authors.affiliation: Dr. Waqas Imran Khan, DCH, FCPS, Department of Pediatric Medicine, The Children Hospital & The Institute of Child Health, Multan, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Waqas
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Imran Khan
authors.affiliation: Dr. Ahmad Bilal Afzal, MBBS, Department of Pediatric Medicine, The Children Hospital & The Institute of Child Health, Multan, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bilal Afzal
authors.affiliation: Dr. Waqas Rabbani, MBBS, Dept. of Behavioral Sciences, University of Health Sciences Lahore.
authors.forename: Waqas
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rabbani
keywords: Constitutional delayed growth and maturation (CDGM); Familial short stature (FSS); Growth hormone deficiency (GHD); Normal variant short stature (NVSS); Short stature