ESPE Abstracts

Background: Short stature is the commonest problem encountered in endocrine clinics. Accuracy in opportunistic measurements is helpful in guiding subsequent management regarding medication doses including growth hormone treatment. Our study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors affecting inaccurate height measurements in different non-Endo clinic visits in our tertiary institute.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study at King Abdullah Specialist Children Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2017-2018). Data included children’s height measurements by healthcare practitioners in different outpatient clinics (endocrine, general pediatric, GI peds, peds surgery) and during ER visits and inpatient admissions. Data was analyzed using SPSS V23.

Results: Data scrutinized from the electronic health records of 305 patients. The median height of the patients at the time of endocrine clinic visit (Endo visit) was 128 (110-145) cm compared non-endocrine (No Endo) clinic visits that was 130 (111-147) cm. The height measurement was recorded in (n=154, 51%) children before the endocrine clinic visit (Pre-Endo visit) with equal gender distribution. Overall, the inaccuracies in height measurements were common in all of the non-Endo clinics (Prevalence = 82%). They were more existing in the Post Endo visits (n=148 /303, 49%) compared to Pre Endo clinics (n=154 /303,51%) with the largest number of inaccurate measurements were in more than 30 days gap between the Endo and non-Endo visits (P=0.001). In addition, the timing of clinic visit before or after the Endo visit also had an effect (P= 0.001). The height measurements were not statistically different between Endo and Non-Endo visits in relation to the “type” of the clinic (specialty clinic) (P=0.03). However, Surgery clinics were reporting the lowest accuracy of height measurement (n= 32, 43.2%) of the children’s height that was measured more than the actual height among other patients’ treatment areas including: Medicine and General pediatric clinics as well as the ER visits.

Conclusion: Inaccuracy in height measurements is common in non-Endo services in our tertiary center. This could be affected by recent or upcoming Endo visits resulting in higher or less than actual measurements. More efforts need to be taken to address this issue and increase the awareness of the problem among the HCP.