What causes a person to be a "pocket person" (extremely short stature)?
Disease description:
Recently, I have seen many midgets on television and would like to learn about the causes. What are the reasons for being a midget?
Doctor's answer (1)
Dr. Yang Ziqi
Dwarfism, also known as being a little person, has diverse and complex causes. The main cause is insufficient secretion of growth hormone, often due to abnormalities or atrophy of the pituitary gland. Additionally, skeletal disorders such as cartilage nutritional deficiency and vitamin D-resistant rickets, chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome (trisomy 21) and cri-du-chat syndrome, and congenital enzyme metabolic deficiencies such as mucopolysaccharidosis and glycogen storage disease are also important contributing factors. Kidney diseases such as renal tubular acidosis and Fanconi syndrome, as well as long-term, high-dose use of corticosteroids, can also lead to dwarfism. Moreover, genetic factors may also play a role in the development of dwarfism.
