Dwarfism: causes, symptoms and associated disorders.

An alteration in growth exhibited by some unusually short people.

The process by which humans move from the prenatal stage to adulthood is complex and fraught with potential complications. There are, for example, numerous genetic diseases that affect height and that can significantly worsen a person's quality of life if appropriate measures are not taken. Dwarfism, for example, is one such anomaly..

People with dwarfism in any of its variants may not only suffer the consequences of having to interact with spaces and architectures that are not designed for them, but they may also suffer some complications related to movement. often present some complications related to the movement and use of the joints. and, on the other hand, they are at greater risk of feeling psychological distress related to self-esteem and self-concept.

Let's see what this anomaly consists of.

What is dwarfism?

Dwarfism is an alteration in a person's height, which is well below average. That is to say, taking as a reference the average height in each population group divided by sex, the person with dwarfism does not reach the minimum marked by three standard deviations from the mean..

Why it is not a disease

Dwarfism is not in itself a disease or disorder, but the expression of certain developmental alterations that can cause diseases to appear in parallel to slow or limited growth.

Strictly speaking, people with dwarfism are only characterized by being much shorter than statistically normal height, which in itself does not necessarily lead to significant health problems.

In practice, however, this does entail problems, especially with regard to the in terms of weight distribution and its effect on the jointsMany individuals with this disorder are not only shorter than normal, but their proportions are also very different from those of an adult person without dwarfism.

For example, in many cases the head is proportionally very large (macrocephaly) and the limbs are very short, which means that in order to maintain an upright position the thorax is tilted forward and the head is tilted backwards to maintain a stable center of gravity. This causes problems over time.

However, the characteristics of people with dwarfism vary greatly depending on the cause of this disorder.

The distinction between short stature and dwarfism

Usually, this "height threshold" that serves to delimit where dwarfism begins is approximately 140 cm in men and 160 cm in women. Although this criterion can be qualified, since it also depends on the height of the parents, it is understood that even in very short people it is normal that the size of the offspring tends to be close to 140 cm in males and 160 cm in females. tends to approach the statistical normality, a phenomenon known as regression toa phenomenon known as regression to the mean.

In addition, other measurements can be used as a reference to determine cases of dwarfism. For example, the presence of macrocephaly (larger than expected head size in proportion to the rest of the body) is associated with many cases of this anomaly, although it can also occur in people of normal stature.

In cases where the person is unusually short but no disease associated with this characteristic or a specific cause is found and the body proportions are normal, these are not considered to be examples of dwarfism and are called "idiopathic short stature. are called "idiopathic short stature", assuming that they are the simpleassuming that they are the simple expression of inherited genes.

Types of dwarfism according to causes

As we have seen, dwarfism is an anomaly resulting from the expression of certain diseases that do not necessarily resemble each other. do not necessarily resemble each other in their origin..

The most common diseases that produce the appearance of dwarfism are the following:

Achondroplasia

This disease produces about 70% of the cases of dwarfism.. It is genetically rooted and is expressed even before birth, causing the limbs and thorax not to grow as much as the head due to abnormalities in the formation of cartilage.

Celiac disease

It has been shown that the disease that causes problems in cases where gluten is ingested is also associated with the is also associated with the appearance of dwarfism as one of its symptoms.

Growth hormone problems

In this type of dwarfism the cause is to be found in a deficient secretion of the growth hormone by the pituitary gland by the pituitary gland of the brain. These cases can be corrected by artificially supplying more of this substance.

Rickets

A deficiency in bone development due to problems in mineralizing these structures with sufficient amounts of phosphorus and calcium. In this disease Bones are weak and break easily, and do not reach the expected size..

Possible psychological interventions

People with dwarfism do not necessarily develop psychological problems, but their problems of social fitting in and the possible occurrence of discomfort related to symptoms of associated illnesses may make them a potentially vulnerable population group..