Evaluation and prognosis in nonorganic failure to thrive.

The 70 children with failure to thrive (FTT) admitted to our hospital over the last five years were reviewed. After extensive evaluations, only 16% received a diagnosis of an organic disorder. In the nonorganic group, 45% of FTT was secondary to improper feeding and 52% was secondary to environmental deprivation. Thirty percent of the children were discharged without a diagnosis. Although there were some important differences between the groups, extensive laboratory data were of little value. Follow-up information revealed that while the children with FTT secondary to poor feeding technics uniformly did well, the outlook for the environmentally deprived group and unknown cause group was frequently poor.