Study Show That Short People Are More Likely To Develop Heart Disease

A new study suggests that people with short stature have higher risks of developing heart disease. The said research published by the New England Journal of Medicine analysed the information collated from more than 65,000 people with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 128,000 people who are CAD-free.

The study involved the investigation of 180 genetic markers that are linked to the human height. These markers were studied to see if there is a relationship between height and the development of CAD. The researchers later found that there is indeed a significant link and that the risk of CAD decreases by an average of 13.5 percent for 2.5-inch increase in height. The researchers cited the following example: A person whose height is 5 feet has an increased risk of developing CAD compared to a person whose height is 5 feet and 6 inches.

The research team also studied the genetic markers of people with taller height. It was found that those who have the most height-increasing genetic markers are 26 percent less likely to develop CAD, compared to the participants who have the fewest height-increasing genetic markers.

Researcher Dr Nilesh Samani, a professor of cardiology at the said that CAD, which is a common disease, develop due to a complex list of causes. The study, which included more men than women, iterates there are other lifestyle factors, such as smoking, to which CAD can be attributed to.

Previous studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between height and heart diseases, but none have explained whether the links were direct of each other or are causes causes of other factors, such as short stature due to poor childhood nutrition. "By using the power of very-large-scale genetic studies, this research is the first to show that the known association between increased height and a lower risk of coronary heart disease is at least in part due to genetics, rather than purely down to nutrition or lifestyle factors," study founder and associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, Jeremy Pearson stated.

Dr Andrew Freeman, director of clinical cardiology at National Jewish Health in Denver, notes that the findings of this recent study complements previous research pointing a link between extremes of height and risk of early death. An example is a 2012 study, which suggested that shorter people have an increased death of early death to heart conditions. However, Freeman said that it is not a confirmatory fact that shorter people will have to deal with coronary artery disease later in life.

Further into the current study, the researcher discovered that there is a link between height-identifying genetic markers and the amounts of body cholesterol and fat. Cholesterol and fat are significant risk factors for the development of CAD, which partially explains the relationship between short height and increased CAD risk. However, the researchers said that the relationship between the two factors is only a partial aspect of the entire study and that other factors should also be considered.

Lifestyle changes, such as regular exercise, plant-based diet and active lifestyle could be implemented to balance out the genes that short people are born with. "The goal is to take the genes you have been given and put them in the best possible environment," Freeman suggests. The participants of the study were mostly from Western countries, hence Freeman notes that there may be unique lifestyle factors that could have influenced the results. These factors were not thoroughly investigated during the study proper.

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