[Growth, skeletal and dental age in chronic diarrhea in childhood].

Chronic diarrhea is a common disease in children; several etiological agents and pathogenetic mechanisms are responsible for causing the illness. In order to evaluate the long term effects of chronic diarrhea on growth, dental and bone age the authors have examined 111 children in a 7 years follow-up for coeliac disease (49 cases) and a 5 years follow-up for chronic diarrhea caused by different agents (62 cases). All the coeliac diseases show a good clinical and auxological evolution, whereas aspecific chronic diarrhea shows important changes in growth, in dental and bone age. Clinical progress of the disease is therefore strictly related to the accuracy of the diagnosis, while the duration of the illness is of little importance. Our study does not show any correlation between changes in auxological tests or in dental and bone age and the length of symptoms (r = -0.150 N.S.). The authors stress the importance of the evaluation of dental age together with bone age and auxological parameters in monitoring children with chronic diarrhea; in all observed cases dental and bone age retardation showed a positive correlation both with chronic diarrhea (r = 0.608; p less than 0.03) and coeliac disease (r = 0.411; p less than 0.02).