Growth-promoting attempts are widespread in Korea, but little is known about their prevalence or associated factors. This study was designed to assess the prevalence of growth-promoting attempts among children visiting a university growth clinic.

A questionnaire-based survey was carried out with 823 children (416 boys, 407 girls) who visited the growth clinic at Paik Hospital.

The mean age of the subjects was 10.4±2.6 yr, and the height z-score was -1.58±0.91. Approximately 33.4% of the children had tried growth promotion. Among the height-gain methods, herbal medicine was the most frequently used (37.8%), followed by health-promoting supplements (37.1%), exercise or machine (3.0%), and growth hormone treatment (2.9%). The mean age at which the parents began to worry about their children's height was 7.7 yr. The mean age at which they started height-gain methods was 8.9 yr for herbal medicine, 9.1 yr for health-promoting supplements, 9.4 yr for exercise or machine, and 9.9 yr for growth hormone treatment. Motivating factors included advice from relatives or friends (36.0%), advertisements in the Internet or newspaper (28.4%), advice from pharmacist (16.8%), and advice from their medical doctor (5.5%). The degree of satisfaction from the height-gain methods was 29.1% with growth hormone treatment, 6.6% with exercise or machine, 6.4% with herbal medicine, and 2.8% with growth-promoting supplements.

Approximately one third of the children reported use of growth-promoting methods, but the satisfaction rate was not high. The benefits of growth-promoting methods should be carefully weighed against their costs and side effects.