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Short stature - Overview

Alternative Names

Idiopathic short stature; Non-growth hormone deficient short stature

Definition of Short stature:

Short stature refers to any person who is significantly below the average height for a person of the same age and sex.

The term often refers to children or adolescents who are significantly below the average height of their peers.

Considerations:

A growth chart is used to compare a child's current height and how fast he or she is growing to other children of the same age and gender (male or female). A measurement called standard deviation (SD) is used. If a child's height is more than 2 SD's below the average height, the child is thought to have short stature.

Many parents become worried if their children are shorter than most or all of the children around them. However, short stature is not necessarily a symptom or sign of a health problem. Two relatively short but healthy parents may have an entirely healthy child who is in the shortest 5%.

On the other hand, short stature may be a symptom caused by a medical condition. Because many of these conditions are treatable, the person should be examined by a health care provider. The rate of growth over time is important in determining the cause.

Common Causes:

Short stature may be due to a number of medical conditions or problems, including:

Short stature that has no medical cause (idiopathic short stature) can be due to:

  • Family history of short stature (children are short but are expected to reach the height of one or both parents)
  • Constitutional growth delay (normal growth until close to 12 months of age that slows afterward, puberty is delayed, adult height will eventually be in the expected range calculated from the parents' height)

This list does not include every possible cause of short stature.

  • Reviewed last on: 9/13/2009
  • Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Cohen P, Rogol AD, Deal CL, et al. Wit JM: 2007 ISS Consensus Workshop participants. Consensus statement on the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic short stature: a summary of the Growth Hormone Research Society, the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, and the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Workshop. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008;93:4210-4217.

Parks JS, Feiner EL. Hypopituitarism. In: Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa:Saunders Elsevier;2007:chap 558.

Collett-Solberg PF, Misra M. Drug and Therapeutics Committee of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society. The role of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1 in treating children with short stature. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008;93:10-18.

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