Short stature

Definition:

A relative term used in referring to any person that is more than two standard deviations below the average height (approximately in the shortest 5%) for a person of the same age and sex.

Considerations:

Short stature is a relative term used for children or adolescents who are significantly below the average height of their peers.

Short stature is not necessarily a symptom or sign. Two relatively short but entirely normal parents may have a short but entirely normal child who falls below the two standard deviation mark in height. On the other hand, short stature may be a symptom caused by a medical condition and, as many of these conditions are treatable, should be evaluated by a health care provider.

Common causes:

• familial short stature also genetic short stature (inherited height is below average but normal)
• delayed puberty (a cause of temporary short stature, self-correcting, with normal height achieved)
• precocious puberty
• congenital hypothyroidism
• hypothyroidism
• achondroplasia
• hypopituitarism (pituitary dwarfism)
• craniopharyngioma
• progeria
• Morquio syndrome
• Noonan syndrome
• osteogenesis imperfecta
• rickets
• Russell-Silver syndrome
• Sanfilippo syndrome
• Turner's syndrome
• Cockayne's syndrome
• Rothmund-Thomson syndrome
• Bloom's syndrome
• Seckel's syndrome
• Cornelia de Lange syndrome
• Hallerman-Streiff syndrome
• Aarskog syndrome
• adrenocortical carcinoma
• hydrocarbon pneumonia

Note: There may be other causes of short stature. This list is not all inclusive, and the causes are not presented in order of likelihood. The causes of this symptom can include unlikely diseases and medications. Furthermore, the causes may vary based on age and gender of the affected person. Use the Symptom Analysis option to explore the possible explanations for short stature, occurring alone or in combination with other problems.