Dwarfism: Causes, Symptoms And Associated Disorders
The process by which human beings go from the prenatal stage to adulthood is complex and full of possible 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 of these anomalies.
People who have dwarfism in any of its variants can not only suffer the consequences of having to interact with spaces and architectures that are not designed for them, but also They usually present some complications related to the movement and use of the joints and, on the other hand, they have a greater risk of feeling psychological discomfort related to self-esteem and self-concept.
Dwarfism is an alteration in a person’s height, which is far below average. That is, 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 is it not a disease?
Dwarfism is not in itself a disease or disorder, but rather the expression of certain developmental alterations that can cause diseases to appear in parallel with slow or limited growth.
Strictly speaking, people with dwarfism are only characterized by having a height much smaller than what is statistically normal, which in itself does not necessarily lead to significant health problems.
In practice, however, this does pose problems, especially regarding weight distribution and its effect on the jointssince many of the individuals with this alteration 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 to maintain an upright position the thorax leans forward and the head leans back to maintain a stable center of gravity. This causes problems over time.
However, the characteristics presented by people with dwarfism vary greatly depending on the cause of this alteration.
The distinction between short stature and dwarfism
Usually, this “height threshold” that serves to delimit where dwarfism begins is located approximately at 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 offspring tend to approach statistical normalitya phenomenon known as regression to the mean.
In addition, it is possible to take other measurements as a reference to determine cases of dwarfism. For example, the presence of macrocephaly (head size larger than expected in proportion to what it occupies the rest of the body) is associated with many cases of this anomaly, although it can also appear in people of normal height.
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, it is considered that they are not examples of dwarfism and They are called “idiopathic short stature”assuming that they are the simple expression of inherited genes.
As we have seen, dwarfism is an anomaly derived from the expression of certain diseases that They do not have to resemble each other in their origin.
The most common diseases that cause the appearance of dwarfism are the following:
Achondroplasia
This disease causes about 70% of dwarfism cases. It has genetic roots and is expressed before birth, causing the limbs and thorax to not grow as much as the head due to anomalies in the formation of cartilage.
Celiac disease
It has been seen that the disease that produces problems in cases where gluten is ingested It is also associated with the appearance of dwarfism as one of its symptoms.
Growth hormone problems
In this type of dwarfism the cause is found in a deficient secretion of growth hormone by the pituitary gland of the brain. These cases can be corrected by providing more of this substance artificially.
Rickets
A deficiency in bone development due to problems mineralizing these structures with sufficient amounts of phosphorus and calcium. in this disease The bones are weak and break easily, in addition to not reaching the expected size.
Possible psychological interventions
People with dwarfism do not have to develop psychological problems, but their problems with social adjustment and the possible appearance of discomfort related to the symptoms of associated diseases can make them a potentially vulnerable population group.
