This paper provides an overview of the diagnoses of patients entered in the Kabi Pharmacia International Growth Study (KIGS). By May 1991, data from a total of 5377 children treated with growth hormone (GH) were included in the main database. Of these children, 2691 were classified as having idiopathic GH deficiency (GHD), 866 as having GHD of known origin, and 1820 as having other causes of short stature. The majority of patients with idiopathic GHD have no history of perinatal trauma. In the patients with GHD of known origin, 137 were congenital cases and 729 acquired GHD. The largest number of congenital cases (114) belonged to the group of central malformations (e.g. septo-optic dysplasia and empty sella syndrome). Of the cases with acquired GHD, 73% were associated with tumours or leukaemia. Other causes of short stature include 12 groups of diagnoses, with more than 150 cases in four of them (idiopathic short stature, 635; defined syndromes with chromosomal aberrations, 337, of which 304 were Turner's syndrome; defined syndromes without chromosomal aberrations, 157; intrauterine growth retardation without stigmata, 366). Analysis of the KIGS data allows modern GH therapy for GHD to be compared with older treatment modalities. The study offers the advantage of larger numbers of cases than can be achieved in individual trials and allows assessment of the use of GH therapy for GHD of comparatively uncommon causes.