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 subsp ecialty services because of the following beliefs: (1) short stature is sec ondary 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 adequa tely by the children's primary care providers. In reality, growth failure i n children with chronic conditions may be caused by other factors and may b e treatable. In addition, growth is often inadequately assessed by primary health care providers. Growth abnormalities should never be ignored or mini mized in populations of children having other significant health care probl ems. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.