ABSTRACT
Pediatricians must distinguish growth failure from short stature disease (see Chap. 12). Growth failure is always associated with a pathological process, whereas short stature may not be associated with disease. The definition of growth failure is a height velocity less than 10% of the growth velocity curve of the reference population. Short stature is defined as a height below the 3% of the height growth chart. The weight in relation to height, as calculated by the body mass index (BMI), is another measurement that can be used to assess growth failure. Pso refers to the 50th percentile for age and gender.
