09/04/2015

Shorter People More At Risk Of Heart Disease

Shorter people are more at risk of coronary heart disease, according to a new study led by Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiology and Head of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences.

The research discovered that every 2.5 inches of change in height affects the risk of coronary heart disease by 13.5%.

The study, which was published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, was supported by the British Heart Foundation, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and others.

Professor 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.

"It is not clear whether this relationship is due to confounding factors such as poor socioeconomic environment, or nutrition, during childhood that on the one hand determine achieved height and on the other the risk of coronary heart disease, or whether it represents a primary relationship between shorter height and more coronary heart disease.

"Now, using a genetic approach, researchers at the University of Leicester undertaking the study on behalf of an international consortium of scientists (the CADIoGRAM+C4D consortium) 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."

(CD/MH)

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