Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 May 7:5:2333794X18773662.
doi: 10.1177/2333794X18773662. eCollection 2018.

Unexpected Height Loss in an Adolescent With Cystic Fibrosis

Affiliations

Unexpected Height Loss in an Adolescent With Cystic Fibrosis

Anne Schendel et al. Glob Pediatr Health. .

Abstract

This case report describes an adolescent with pancreatic insufficient cystic fibrosis, malnutrition, and cystic fibrosis-related diabetes found to have a loss in height at a routine outpatient clinic visit. He was subsequently admitted to the hospital for treatment of a pulmonary exacerbation and was found to have multiple, nontraumatic vertebral compression fractures. This report emphasizes the importance of routine review of growth charts and aggressive treatment of vitamin deficiencies and malnutrition in people with cystic fibrosis.

Keywords: cystic fibrosis–related bone disease; cystic fibrosis–related diabetes; height loss; lumacaftor/ivacaftor; malnutrition; osteopenia; osteoporosis; vertebral compression fractures.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Growth chart showing abrupt, significant loss in height.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Magnetic resonance image demonstrating chronic T5-L1 compression fractures.

References

    1. Shepherd D, Belessis Y, Katz T, Morton J, Field P, Jaffe A. Single high-dose oral vitamin D3 (Stoss) therapy—a solution to vitamin D deficiency in children with cystic fibrosis? J Cyst Fibros. 2013;12:177-182. - PubMed
    1. Kelly A, Schall J, Stallings VA, Zemel BS. Trabecular and cortical bone deficits are present in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis. Bone. 2016;90:7-14. - PubMed
    1. Marquette M, Haworth CS. Bone health and disease in cystic fibrosis. Paediatr Respir Rev. 2016;20(suppl 5):2-5. - PubMed
    1. Sheikh S, Gemma S, Patel A. Factors associated with low bone mineral density in patients with cystic fibrosis. J Bone Miner Metab. 2015;33:180-185. - PubMed
    1. Curran D, McArdle J, Talwalkar J. Diabetes mellitus and bone disease in cystic fibrosis. Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2009;30:514-530. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources