What is Short Stature?

Short stature is a condition where a person is well below average height when compared to others who are the same age and gender.

Short stature may be a sign of a related medical condition or genetic disorder. Factors that may influence normal growth and stature include:

• Parental height.
• Rate of growth and development.
• Nutritional status.

Your health care provider will review your growth pattern to uncover any causes that may be treated.

What are the causes?

Short stature may not have a cause (idiopathic short stature), but it may be related to:

• A growth pattern called constitutional growth delay. People with constitutional growth delay may:
  • Grow to a normal height but may be shorter than their peers during childhood and adolescence.
  • Reach puberty later than their peers.
  • Be small for their age but have a normal growth rate.
  • Reach an adult height similar to that of their parents.
• Genetic make-up (heredity). Short stature in one or both parents may affect the adult height of their children.

Other causes include:

• Bone growth disorders.
• Inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn disease.
• Celiac disease.
• Hypothyroidism.
• Long-term (chronic) diseases.
• Genetic syndromes.
• Growth hormone deficiency.
• Poor nutrition.
• Infections.
• Endocrine disorders.

What increases the risk?

This condition is more likely to develop in children and teens with:

• A family history of short parental height.
• Poor nutrition.

What are the signs or symptoms?

Symptoms of this condition include:

• Slow growth rate with a height that is below the average height of others the same age.
• Delayed puberty (age 15 for females and age 14 to 15 for males).

Other symptoms may be related to underlying medical conditions:

• Persistent fever.
• Chronic headaches or vomiting or both.
• Abdominal pain and diarrhea.
• Poor appetite.

How is this diagnosed?

To make a diagnosis, your health care provider will take a medical history and perform a physical exam. Your health care provider may look for other hormonal or genetic causes for delayed growth or puberty. He or she will look at your growth over time. You may also be referred to other specialists, such as an endocrinologist. You may also have tests, such as:

• Blood tests.
• Urine tests.
• Bone age X-ray.
• Other X-rays.
• Genetic tests.

How is this treated?

If the condition is thought to be hereditary, no treatment is needed. If your short stature is caused by a medical condition, your treatment will depend on the cause. Specific treatments may include:

• Improved nutrition.
• Medicines to correct hormonal imbalance, such as:
  • Growth hormone replacement.
  • Thyroid hormone replacement.

Follow these instructions at home:

• Take over-the-counter and prescription medicines only as told by your health care provider.
• Keep all follow-up visits as told by your health care provider. This is important. During these visits, your health care provider will check your height, weight, and stage of sexual development.

Contact a health care provider if:

• You have unexplained hip or knee pain.
• You are very tired (have fatigue).
• You have a headache.
• You have vision changes.

Get help right away if:

• You have a bad headache that will not go away.
• You have double vision.