ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Idiopathic short stature (ISS) is widely recognized as a cause of short stature and poor growth and is arbitrarily defined as a height < -2 SDS without an identified etiology. It is commonly known, through several studies, that malnutrition is considered to be one of the main factors responsible for growth disorders in children and adolescents. We aim ed to evaluate growth outcome by reviewing nutritional influences in patients followed up for idiopathic short stature.

Patients and Methods: This is a monocentric, retrospective, descriptive, and analytical study of 103 patients followed in our department for ISS. The statistical analysis was performed by the software-SPSS V21 and a threshold of P <0.05 was considered significant.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 11±4,3 years with a sex ratio (M/F):1,4. The majority of patients were diagnosed after 10 years of age in 60% of cases. The average weight at diagnosis was 26±7,1 kg. The average height at diagnosis was 126,4±18,3 cm. The mean body max index was 15.6±4,8 kg/m2. 25-OHD insufficiency were assessed in 70% of patients. Bone age was delayed compared to chronological age in 72% cases. The daily caloric intake for all patients in our series was 1410±380 kcal/day with high percent of carbohydrate intakes and lower daily protein intake. During follow-up, we found a statistically significant increase in growth velocity during follow-up after one year, specifically after an increase in daily protein intake.

Discussion and Conclusion: As well as the height variable changes very concomitantly that the weight, stunting can well be diagnosed by collecting caloric intakes data in order to assess nutritional deficiency. From the present study, we suggest that nutrional education should be an integral option in the therapeutical management therapy of children with ISS through providing a balanced diet enriched with protein and micronutrients.