Short in Stature
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Try one of these related symptoms.
Growth disorders
Shorter than others
Height did not increase compared to peers
Stunted height growth
About the Symptom
It refers to any child who has a height well below what is average for that child's age and sex.
When to See a Doctor
Seek professional care if you experience any of the following symptoms
- Shorter than other children of similar age
Possible Causes
Generally, Short in stature can be related to:
- Familial Short Stature
A genetic cause of short stature. It occurs when a child inherits genes for short height from one or both parents.
- MELAS Syndrome
MELAS is a rare genetic disorder that starts in childhood and mainly affects the nervous system and muscles. The disorder is transmitted through the affected person's mother. Typical MELAS symptoms include weak muscles, sudden ("stroke-like") neurological symptoms such as paralysis of the right or left side of the body, blindness, or numbness, in addition to seizures and migraine-like headaches. People who have MELAS are also typically short in size, and have difficulty hearing.
- Turner Syndrome
Instead of having 2 X chromosomes (XX), one X chromosome is partially or completely missing (XO). This occurs randomly and only in women. Some developmental abnormalities include short stature, ovarian failure and heart defects.
Hypophosphatasia (HPP)
- Pineal Tumor
- Uterine Hypoplasia
- Osteomalacia / Rickets
- Gaucher Disease
- Vasculitis (including Cryoglobulinemia)
Related Serious Diseases
Sometimes, Short in stature may be related to these serious diseases:
- Niemann-Pick Disease
Niemann-Pick disease is a rare genetic disease that affects the body's ability to break down fat (cholesterol and lipids) within cells, causing these cells to malfunction and eventually die. The brain, nerves, liver, spleen, bone marrow, and, in severe cases, the lungs, can all be affected by Niemann-Pick disease.
Doctor's Diagnostic Questions
Your doctor may ask these questions to check for this symptom:
- Are you shorter than your peers?
- When did you first notice that you have short height compared to your peers?
Reviewed By:
Unnati Patel, MD, MSc (Family Medicine)
Dr.Patel serves as Center Medical Director and a Primary Care Physician at Oak Street Health in Arizona. She graduated from the Zhejiang University School of Medicine prior to working in clinical research focused on preventive medicine at the University of Illinois and the University of Nevada. Dr. Patel earned her MSc in Global Health from Georgetown University, during which she worked with the WHO in Sierra Leone and Save the Children in Washington, D.C. She went on to complete her Family Medicine residency in Chicago at Norwegian American Hospital before completing a fellowship in Leadership in Value-based Care in conjunction with the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, where she earned her MBA. Dr. Patel’s interests include health tech and teaching medical students and she currently serves as Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Arizona School of Medicine.
Yoshinori Abe, MD (Internal Medicine)
Dr. Abe graduated from The University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 2015. He completed his residency at the Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Longevity Medical Center. He co-founded Ubie, Inc. in May 2017, where he currently serves as CEO & product owner at Ubie. Since December 2019, he has been a member of the Special Committee for Activation of Research in Emergency AI of the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine. | | Dr. Abe has been elected in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Healthcare & Science category.
Content updated on Feb 6, 2025
Following the Medical Content Editorial Policy
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- I am/was shorter than other children
- Height below average
- Shorter than peers
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Link to full study:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.08.29.24312810v1References
Short Stature - Johns Hopkins Medicine
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/short-stature#:~:text=Short%20stature%20is%20a%20general,the%20same%20age%20and%20sex.