Causes of short stature in Pakistani children found at an Endocrine Center

Background and Objective: Short stature is defined as height below 3[rd] centile. Causes of short stature can range from familial, endocrine disorders, chronic diseases to chromosomal disorders. Most common cause in literature being idiopathic short stature. Early detection and management of remedial disorders like malnutrition and vitamin D deficiency, Endocrine disorders like growth hormone deficiency and hypothyroidism can lead to attainment of expected height. Pakistani data shows idiopathic short stature as the most common cause of short stature. Our study aimed at detecting causes of short stature in children/adolescents at an Endocrine referral center

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at WILCARE Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Lahore on 70 well-nourished children/adolescents. The patients had been evaluated clinically, biochemically and radiologically as needed. Biochemical testing included hormonal testing as well to detect endocrine causes. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS 20.0

Results: Leading cause of short stature in our population was Growth Hormone [GH] deficiency seen in 48 out of 70 [69%] patients. Second most common endocrine abnormality seen in these patients was Vitamin D deficiency [44 out of 70 patients [63%]]. Primary hypothyroidism; pan-hypopituitarism and adrenal insufficiency were other endocrine causes. The weight for age was below 3rd percentile in 57 [81%] patients, with no association with other major causes

Conclusion: Growth hormone and Vitamin D deficiency constitute one of the major causes of short stature among well-nourished children with short stature in Pakistan

Bernard-soulier syndrome and dengue fever: a rare association-case report

A 32-years-old pregnant woman who was a diagnosed case of Bernard Soulier Syndrome; which is a rare hereditary disorder of quafitative and quantitative platelet defect with tendency to bleed spontaneously, developed dengue fever which resulted in marked thrombocytopenia. She was continuously monitored and managed conservatively. Luckily, she made an uneventful recovery. But this may not be the case always, and constant vigilance is required while treating patients of congenital disorders of platelet function with acquired thrombocytopenia