Term applied broadly to a number of conditions resulting in unusually short stature.

While dwarfism is sometimes used to describe achondroplasia, a condition characterized by short stature and disproportionately short arms and legs, it is also used more broadly to refer to a variety of conditions resulting in unusually short stature in both children and adults. In some cases physical development may be disproportionate, as in achondroplasia, but in others the parts of the body develop proportionately. Short stature may be unaccompanied by other symptoms, or it may occur together with other problems, both physical and mental. Adult males under 5 ft (1.5 m) tall and females under 4 ft 8 in (1.4 m) are classified as short-statured. Children are considered unusually short if they fall below the third percentile of height for their age group. In 1992 there were about five million people of short stature (for their age) living in the United...