Girl grows 22cm taller after two years of growth hormone injections

The 10-year-old girl, 126 cm tall, equivalent to the average height of an 8-year-old girl, after two years of growth hormone treatment, has grown to 148 cm.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) standard height and weight chart for children, the average height of a 10-year-old girl is 138.6 cm. The level considered malnourished in terms of height is 125.8 cm and the level considered very tall is 151.4 cm. Thus, the girl above is malnourished in height. According to WHO, the average weight of girls this age is 31.9, and the girl above weighs 30 kg.

The parents said that the child was shorter than his peers since he was a child, the family focused on increasing nutrition but could not improve his height. At the age of 10, the child was examined at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, the doctor diagnosed him with growth hormone deficiency, and prescribed treatment with hormone injections. After 24 months of treatment, the child's height increased by 22 cm and his weight increased to 41 kg.

"The baby's height is within the average range for the same age," said Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Anh, Department of Endocrinology, Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital. The baby continues to receive growth hormone supplementation, and height and physical development are monitored.

This is one of hundreds of cases of short stature due to growth hormone deficiency successfully treated at the hospital. According to the protocol, after 3-6 months of hormone injection, the child's height is re-measured and blood tests are performed to evaluate the results, and the drug dose is adjusted if necessary. Children who respond to treatment will increase their height from 8 to 12 cm per year. When they reach puberty, the child is re-evaluated to decide whether to continue hormone supplementation or stop.

Children screened for slow height growth at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital. Photo: Provided by the hospital — Children screened for slow height growth at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital. Photo: *Provided by the hospital*

According to Dr. Anh, there are many factors that influence a child's height development, including genetics, nutrition, living environment, lifestyle, exercise, growth hormone, etc. Of these, genetic factors cannot be changed. Slow growth due to lack of growth hormone, which accounts for a low percentage, is one of the important causes of slow growth in children and is very difficult to detect.

Normally, newborns are 48-52 cm tall. In the first year of life, the baby grows about 20-25 cm, in the second year it grows 12 cm, in the third year it grows 10 cm, in the fourth year it grows 7 cm. From 4 to 11 years old, the child will grow an average of 4-6 cm per year. When reaching puberty, each year girls grow about 6-10 cm, boys grow 6.5-11 cm. Children who do not reach this level should be examined by a doctor and screened for early growth retardation.

Without treatment, children with growth hormone deficiency have an average height of only 135-145 cm, much shorter than the maximum height that can be achieved. This affects the child's work, life and psychology due to inferiority complex when compared to friends.

The appropriate stage for children to effectively receive growth hormone treatment is between 4 and 13 years old. "After this time, the child's cartilage closes, and using growth hormone is no longer effective," Dr. Ngoc Anh analyzed.

To detect children with height problems, Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital organizes free screening from June 17 to July 9, every weekend. Register via hotline 0335 116 057 or 0932 714 440. Dr. Le Cao Phuong Duy, Deputy Director of Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, said that this is an annual program, from 2017 to now, more than 2,000 children have been screened for free, of which nearly 200 children were diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency.

Le Phuong

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