[citation needed] From a medical perspective, severe shortness can be a variation of normal, resulting from the interplay of multiple familial genes.

[4] Short stature can also be caused by the bone plates fusing at an earlier age than normal, therefore stunting growth.

Chronic illnesses, malnutrition, endocrine, metabolic disorders or chromosomal anomalies are characterized by proportionate short stature.

Disproportionate short stature can be further subdivided as specified by the body segments affected by shortening, namely limbs versus trunk:[2][3] Short-limb short stature can be further subcategorised in accordance with limb segment affected by shortening.

These subcategories of limb shortening include, rhizomelic (humerus and femur), mesomelic (radius, ulna, tibia and fibula) and acromelic (hands and feet).

Anthropometric measurements provide are very beneficial tools to the diagnostic process of genetic skeletal dysplasias.

The result depends on the cause, but is typically an increase in final height of about 5 to 10 centimetres (2.0 to 3.9 in) taller than predicted.

[citation needed] Increasing final height in children with short stature may be beneficial and could enhance health-related quality of life outcomes, barring troublesome side effects and excessive cost of treatments.

[citation needed] In popular culture, the Napoleon complex, also known as "Napoleon syndrome" and "short man syndrome", is a purported condition normally attributed to people of short stature, with overly aggressive or domineering social behavior, and is named after Napoleon Bonaparte, the first Emperor of the French, who was estimated to have been 5' 2" tall (in pre–metric system French measures), which equals around 1.67 meters, or just under 5' 6" in imperial measure.

[9] In the early 1990s, they paid two US charities, the Human Growth Foundation and the MAGIC Foundation, to measure the height of thousands of American children in schools and public places, and to send letters urging medical consultations for children whose height was deemed low.