Abstract

The heights of 33 consecutively selected mothers of children in hospital for treatment of congenital dislocation of the hip (CDH) were compared with the heights of 54 mothers of children in hospital for conditions other than CDH. The mothers of the CDH children were found to be shorter than those of the control group by a mean of 4·4 cm. This difference was statistically significant. Short maternal stature is associated with a narrow pelvis and presumably also with reduced uterine size which may cause restriction of space for the fetus.