Heart Disease Risks Higher in Shorter People Says Study

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The shorter you are, the higher the risk for heart disease, according to a team of researchers at the University of Leicester.

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and showed that for every 2.5 inches (6.4cm), the lesser the incidence for heart diseases by 13.5 percent. This was gathered from a data of 200,000 people worldwide by examining 180 DNA sections that control height and heart health, according to The New York Times.

This means that in the instance of height comparison, a person who is five feet tall has a 30 percent higher risk for developing coronary disease than someone who is 5 feet 6 inches because of their short stature, according to Sir Nilesh Samani, lead author of the study and professor of cardiology at the University of Leicester in England. He added that smoking still increases the risk for disease by 200 percent to 300 percent.

In a Xinhua news report, Samani said: "For more than 60 years it has been known that there is an inverse relationship between height and risk of coronary heart disease."

"Now, using a genetic approach, researchers have shown that the association between shorter height and higher risk of coronary heart disease is a primary relationship and is not due to confounding factors," he added.

Dr. Samani and his colleagues found that people with "genetic variants" were more susceptible to heart disease and the genetic clues were found to be linked to slightly higher levels of LDL and trigylcerides. LDL is a form of cholesterol that contributes to heart disease.

The researchers also believed that some height genes are responsible for growth and blood vessel development.

"Understanding these pathways may lead to new treatments and that may be more valuable in the longer term," Dr. Samani said in a BBC article.

According to the British Heart Foundation, short people should not be so worried.

"This study does not suggest that short people should be unduly worried about their health or that doctors need to focus on the health of shorter patients," according to Prof. Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation.

"Everyone, regardless of their height, should do everything in their power to reduce their risk of future heart disease by eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and not smoking.

He added: "Currently available health checks are designed to help you understand what measures you need to take to reduce your personal risk."