Growth Abnormalities in Chronic Systemic Diseases in Children and Adolescents

Call for Papers

Abnormal growth patterns are commonly observed in children suffering from chronic inflammatory and noninflammatory diseases. Factors responsible for growth retardation in chronically ill children include frequent infections, primary and secondary malnutrition, long-term stress related to being chronically ill or handicapped, and side effects of therapy such as corticosteroids. It is often difficult to establish how much growth retardation can be attributed to the disease itself and how much to the side effects of treatment. The prevalence of short stature and poor growth at diagnosis may be related to the duration and severity of symptoms as well as to pubertal delay.

Growth retardation can result in severely reduced body stature, which is defined as body height in the lowest third percentile of the population, or body height more than two standard deviations below the mean for the population.

We invite investigators to contribute with original research articles and/or review articles describing the pathogenetic mechanisms leading to growth retardation in a range of chronic illnesses. We are also interested in articles investigating the effect of therapies on linear growth in patients with chronic diseases. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Growth retardation in inflammatory chronic diseases, such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases
• Growth retardation in intestinal malabsorption diseases, such as celiac disease
• Growth retardation in children with haemoglobinopathies
• Growth retardation in asthmatic children
• Growth and pubertal development in patients suffering from cystic fibrosis
• Growth retardation in children with chronic liver and kidney diseases
• Growth in children with onco-haematological diseases

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ije/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/ije/chad/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Mauro Bozzola, Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

Guest Editors

• Sergio Bernasconi, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
• Fabio Buzi, Department of Paediatrics, Carlo Poma Hospital, Mantova, Italy
• Primus E. Mullis, Department of Paediatric Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, University Children's Hospital, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland