Obstetrics/Gynecology and Neonatal

Short Stature in Infants and Children

March 2003

Clinical Focus*

• Is short stature (height < 5th percentile) as a result of a medically determinable impairment associated with severe functional limitations, according to, but not limited to, the Social Security Administration's (SSA) definition of disability?
• What is the evidence that short stature (height < 5th percentile) due to a skeletal dysplasia is disabling according to, but not limited to, SSA's definition of disability? If so, are children disabled by virtue of their size or other features of their conditions?
• What is the evidence that a sustained decrease in linear growth velocity can be used as a marker of severity of an underlying disease? Is such a process likely to be disabling?

*Addressed in the summary or evidence report.

Criteria for Determining Disability in Infants and Children: Short Stature
Summary (Publication No. 03-E025, March 2003)
Evidence Report (Publication No. 03-E025, March 2003)
(PDF Files; File Download)

EPC: Tufts-New England Medical Center
Topic Nominator: Social Security Administration

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