DWARFISM. – A deficiency in the development of an individual’s bodily proportions, particularly in height, which remains below the extreme limits of the fluctuating variability characteristic of that ethnic group.
Some authors speak of dwarfism in individuals under 125 cm in height, others when height presents a deficiency exceeding 20% of the normal value. In dwarfism, the development of bodily form, sexual attributes, and mental faculties is complete or nearly so; this distinguishes dwarfism from infantilism.
The causes of dwarfism are quite varied: racial, hereditary, due to bone, vascular, or renal alterations, nutritional deficiencies—especially of vitamins—dystrophic conditions from chronic infections (tuberculosis, syphilis), and most often from functional defects of certain endocrine glands (q.v.), such as the pituitary, thyroid, and pancreas. Dwarfism permits normal health and lifespan; likewise, good, sometimes excellent, development of intelligence, except in cerebropathic, mongoloid, or hypothyroid (cretin) forms, in which it is accompanied by neuro-psychic developmental deficiencies (cf. also GIGANTISM).