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Growth Disorders
Reviewed by Medicinsk Expert•Last updated: 2026-10-22•Endocrine System

Growth Disorders

Growth disorders occur when problems with hormones or glands prevent children from developing at a normal rate, requiring medical evaluation and intervention.

Overview

While some children are naturally shorter or taller due to genetics or normal developmental variations, some children have growth disorders. These are problems that prevent children from developing normal height, weight, sexual maturity, or other features. Very slow or very fast growth can sometimes signal a gland problem or disease.

The Role of the Pituitary Gland

The pituitary gland makes growth hormone, which stimulates the growth of bone and other tissues.

  • Growth Hormone Deficiency: Children who have too little growth hormone may be very short. Treatment with growth hormone can stimulate growth.
  • Excess Growth Hormone: Usually caused by a non-cancerous pituitary gland tumor, excess growth hormone can lead to significant physical changes.

Impact of Excess Growth Hormone

In children, too much growth hormone can cause gigantism, where bones and the body grow too much. In adults, it can cause acromegaly, which makes the hands, feet, and face larger than normal. Possible treatments include surgery to remove the tumor, medicines, and radiation therapy.

Frequently Asked Questions

The difference lies in the timing of the excess growth hormone relative to the closure of the growth plates. Gigantism occurs in children and adolescents while the growth plates are still open, allowing for an increase in overall height and bone length. Acromegaly occurs in adults after the growth plates have fused, so the bones cannot lengthen further. Instead, the excess hormone causes the bones to thicken, leading to enlarged hands, feet, jaw, and facial features. The age of onset determines the primary physical manifestation and the specific surgical or medical interventions required to manage the condition.
Growth hormone therapy is typically administered until the child's growth plates close, which usually occurs in late adolescence. Once the child has reached their final adult height and the growth plates have fused, the injections are discontinued. The treatment is not lifelong for the condition of short stature itself, but if the underlying cause is a pituitary tumor, the patient may require ongoing monitoring for hormonal balance. If the tumor is removed and hormone levels normalize, no further growth hormone is needed after skeletal maturity.
Clinicians use a growth chart to track the child's height percentile over time. A key indicator of a disorder is when a child falls off their established growth curve or drops across multiple percentile lines, rather than staying consistently in a low percentile. Doctors also evaluate bone age through an X-ray of the hand and wrist; if the bone age is significantly younger than the child's chronological age, it suggests a hormonal delay or deficiency rather than just familial short stature. Genetic testing and blood tests for insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels are often used to confirm the diagnosis.
While normal puberty involves rapid growth, excess growth hormone in children leads to gigantism, characterized by growth that is disproportionately fast and continues well beyond the typical age of growth plate closure. Warning signs include a child who is significantly taller than all peers, has unusually large hands and feet, and experiences frequent headaches or vision changes due to the pituitary tumor pressing on surrounding structures. Unlike a normal growth spurt, the physical features in gigantism may appear coarse or enlarged, and the growth velocity is often extreme, prompting immediate endocrine evaluation.
Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine

MedlinePlus brings together authoritative health information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations.

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