OBJECTIVE: To describe patients followed at a referral service in pediatric endocrinology with the chief complaint of tall stature. METHODS: Chart review of 1,980 patients evaluated from January 2003 to January 2007, being selected only individuals whose main complaint in the first consultation was tall stature. RESULTS: 16 patients were selected (0.8%) and 12 of them fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for tall stature (height Z score for age-ZH/A>2). Seven (58%) patients were males. The age at the first evaluation ranged from 3 years and 4 months to 13 years and 3 months. The ZH/A ranged from 2.18 to 5.99 and the Z score for target height ranged from -1.10 to 1.24. Regarding the causes of tall stature: seven patients (58%) had familiar causes of tall stature, two (17%) had idiopathic tall stature (ITS), and three (25%) of them presented a pathologic cause (Marfan's syndrome in one and pituitary adenomas in two). In the other four patients, ZH/A varied from 1.86 to 1.98 and did not fulfill the diagnostic criteria for tall stature. In this group, the diagnoses were: idiopathic in two, familial in one and Weaver's syndrome in another patient. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of etiologies of patients evaluated with the chief complaint of tall stature corresponds to the literature, in which familial cases constitute the primary cause. Although tall stature is not a frequent complaint, the investigation of these patients should be performed in a thorough way in order to early diagnose secondary causes, which constituted 25% of our study cases.
body height; growth disorders; gigantism; preschool; child; adolescent
