Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Sep-Oct;25(5):381-388.
doi: 10.4103/ijem.ijem_197_21. Epub 2022 Jan 12.

Short Stature: Understanding the Stature of Ethnicity in Height Determination

Madhukar Mittal  1 , Parul Gupta  1 , Sanjay Kalra  2 , Ganapathi Bantwal  3 , Mahendra K Garg  1
Affiliations
Review

Short Stature: Understanding the Stature of Ethnicity in Height Determination

Madhukar Mittal et al. Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2021 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Height is a polygenic trait with a high degree of heritability. Most (95%) children with short stature (defined as height below the third percentile) and poor growth (growth velocity <5 cm/year) do not have an endocrine disorder. The genetic basis for stature potential has been evaluated in recent years and is increasingly being recognized as a major basis for variation in height between different ethnic populations. Numerous genome-wide association studies have identified hundreds of loci linked to human growth. Apart from the genetic factors, various environmental, nutritional, hormonal, and socioeconomic factors also influence the height, and stature of individuals varies between different geographical locations and ethnic groups. Ethnically different populations might respond differently to the same environmental factors and thus the final height in different ethnic groups is different. This review covers in detail the short stature of African Pygmies and Andamanese Islanders along with the possible causative factors responsible for the variation in height in these ethnic groups.

Keywords: Andaman; GH; IGF1; Sardinia; ethnicity; growth; pygmies; short stature.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Lettre G. Recent progress in the study of the genetics of height. Hum Genet. 2011;129:465–72. - PubMed
    1. Sohail M, Maier RM, Ganna A, Bloemendal A, Martin AR, Turchin MC, et al. Polygenic adaptation on height is overestimated due to uncorrected stratification in genome-wide association studies. ELife. 2019;8:e39702. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cohen P, Rogol AD, Deal CL, Saenger P, Reiter EO, Ross JL, et al. Consensus statement on the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic short stature: A summary of the growth hormone research society, the lawson wilkins pediatric endocrine society, and the European society for paediatric endocrinology workshop. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008;93:4210–7. - PubMed
    1. Lindsay R, Feldkamp M, Harris D, Robertson J, Rallison M. Utah growth study: Growth standards and the prevalence of growth hormone deficiency. J Pediatr. 1994;125:29–35. - PubMed
    1. Bharati S, Mukherji D, Pal M, Som S, Adak D, TS V, et al. Influence of ethnicity, geography and climate on the variation of stature among Indian populations. Coll Antropol. 2010;34:1207–13. - PubMed