Can poor growth be an indication of kidney disease?
Kidney disease is quite rare in childhood, and only a very few children who are growing poorly will be found to have kidney disease. Usually, there will be some other cause for their growth failure.
Your child's healthcare provider can best assess the possibility of kidney disease, usually beginning with a detailed health history and physical exam. Follow-up lab tests that measure blood electrolytes, as well as a standard urinalysis, can help confirm the possibility of kidney disease. If the combination of patient history, examination, and testing do not point to kidney disease, chances are good that kidney disease is not the cause of any growth problems.
Evaluating progress
There is a lot of information available that indicates growth hormone can help patients with CRI grow. Research has shown that patients on Nutropin AQ and Nutropin showed substantial growth in the first and second years of therapy.It may take 3 to 6 months for Nutropin AQ and Nutropin to have a noticeable effect, so it's important that your child keeps his or her appointments with the healthcare team so that bodily changes can be monitored. After a few visits, it will be possible to see whether your child is beginning to grow more quickly than before therapy started.
