Etiological Spectrum of Childhood and Adolescent Short Stature at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Madurai, Southern India

Objectives: To assess etiological spectrum of short stature in childhood and adolescent patients and to study the prevalence of treatable causes of short stature like Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and primary hypothyroidsm. Research Design& Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study; a stepwise diagnostic evaluation was done in 512 subjects of childhood and adolescent short stature, aged 3 -18 years attending Department of Endocrinology, Madurai Medical College, Madurai. All patients of short stature underwent detailed clinical, hematologic, metabolic and endocrine screening including thyroid function test and bone age estimation. Selected subset of patients subjected to whole body skeletal survey, blood karyotype and MRI pituitary. Growth hormone deficiency was diagnosed by peak GH levels