Complementary Therapies and Perceptions of Growth in Parents and Children Visiting the Growth Clinic

Lee, Myung chul; Kim, Min jeong; Choi, Im jeong; Cheuh, Hee won; Yoo, Jae ho

Abstract

PURPOSE: Nowadays, more and more parents are visiting the growth clinic due to the increase in interest of growth. We have researched to find out the children's recognition of their growth and their parents' one who had visited the growth clinic and their actual conditions and the effects of complementary therapies which were used.
METHODS
The study included 164 patients who visited to growth clinic in Maryknoll medical center and Dong-A university medical center fromJuly to December 2007. We surveyed and measured their height, weights and bone ages.
RESULTS
With 76 boys and 88 girls, their ages were 9.9+/-2.6 year for boys and 9.9+/-2.5 for girls, bone ages were 9.3+/-3.4 year for boys and 10.3+/-3.4 year for girls, the z-score of heights were -0.860+/-1.326 for boys and -0.683+/-1.129 for girls and the predicted adult heights were 172.3+/-7.9 cm for boys and 153.8+/-6.4 cm for girls. But parents' wanted adult heights were 178.0+/-2.8 cm for boys and 165.6+/-3.7 cm for girls. The main purpose of visiting the growth clinic was uneasiness of parents (63.3%). The 67.1% of them already were using complementary therapies. As the height, weight, and body mass index were smaller, they were inclined to have used various complementary therapies.
CONCLUSION
Although people more concerned about their heights, it appears that they not only do not have correct knowledges but also have wasted excessive money on unproven therapies. We consider that more accurate examinations and informations about height should be preceded before using various remedies.