Growth retardation in children with chronic asthma in the absence of prolonged steroid therapy.

Height and weight measurements were made on 380 boys and 219 girls age 4 to 20 with chronic asthma and compared with normal values from National Center for Health Statistics Growth Charts. These patients were not on prolonged steroid therapy. Heights and weights were both significantly lower than normal (P less than 0.005 for height and P less than 0.01 for weight) for the total sample and for some individual age groups for boys, but reached normal values by age 19 and 20. Average height percentiles for boys with early onset (age 0 to 2 years) were at the 25 percentile level but improved with later ages of onset. Height and weight of girls were not affected significantly by chronic asthma. Growth retardation in asthmatic boys appears to be linked with delayed sexual maturation.