All issues > Volume 32(3); 1989

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1989;32(3):303-310. Published online March 31, 1989.

Study on the Clinical Aspect of Failure to Thrive.

Hyung Keun Nam¹, Myung Ik Lee¹, Don Hee Ahn¹, Keun Chan Sohn¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

Received: June 8, 1988;  Accepted: September 23, 1988.

Abstract

Failure to thrive means infants and children whose growth and often development are significantly below expected stanards, usually below the third percentile. It is relatively apt to develop during the first 2 years of life. The clinical observations were made on 79 patients of failure to thrive who were diagnosed at pediatric dept., National Medical Center from January, 1981 to June, 1986. The results were as follows: 1) The incidence of failure to thrive was 3.4%, i.e. 79 cases from 2,320 admitted cases. 2) The age distribution showed 64 cases(80.9%) of children less than 6 months of age and 75 cases(94.9%) of children less than 12 months of age. 3) Among failure to thrive, the height, head circumference and chest circumference, which were below the 50 th percentile, were 95.9%, 89.1 %, 85.5% respectively. 4) The organic causes occupied 64 cases (81.0 %), non-organic causes 12 cases (15.2%) and undetermined 3 cases (3.8%). The organic causes were by far more than non-organic. 5) Among organic causes, the gastrointestinal disease 18 cases (27.8%), and the respiratory tract disease 17 cases (26.5%) were much more than other diseases, which included in decreasing order, urinary tract infection, congenital heart disease and central nervous system disease. 6) The non-organic causes were composed of environmental deprivation 7 cases (8.9%) and inadequate caloric intake, 5 cases (6.3%).

Keywords :Failure to thrive