Puzzles answered already been debated by experts in the world regarding the risk of heart disease for people of short stature after a recent analysis reinforces that.
For years, experts have debated the short body of evidence linking the risk of heart disease. However, this latest analysis is the first systematic study has been done on this topic, according to Finnish researchers.
“Height may be considered as an independent factor to be used in calculating the risk of heart disease,” said lead researcher, Dr. Tuula Paajanen, a researcher at the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Tampere, Finland.
Height can be used to calculate body mass index (a measure of body fat), which is widely used to measure the risk of coronary heart disease, he added.
“But height is only one factor that can cause heart disease risk, and while people do not have control over height or genetics, although they can control their weight, lifestyle habits such as smoking, drinking and exercise. And all together affect their heart disease risk, “Paajanen said.
“The more risk factors you have, the more effort for you to concentrate on reducing risk factors that you can do,” he said,
For this study, a team under the leadership of Paajanen analyzed data from 52 studies that included 3,012,747 people. Short people are considered those that have heights below 5 feet 3 inches (about 159 cm) and tall people over 5 feet 8 inches (more than 173 cm).
Separated by gender, men have a high short under 5 feet 5 inches (about 155 cm), and short women under 5 feet (below 152 cm). Higher for males over 5 feet 9 inches tall and more than 5 feet 5 inches.
Compared with the tallest, the shortest nearly 1.5 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease or disorder to live with heart disease or suffer a heart attack.
Comparing men and women separately, short men have probably 37% more likely to die due to any illness compared with men tall and short women have probably 55% more likely to die from any cause compared with women who are high, said Paajanen team.
Paajanen added that it is unknown why there is a relationship between height and risk of heart disease.
The researchers speculated that shorter people have smaller coronary arteries may be obstructed at the beginning of their lives because of other risk factors such as poverty, malnutrition and infection. Smaller coronary arteries may also be affected by changes in blood flow.
However, recent genetic findings regarding height show that heredity, rather than poor nutrition or low birth weight, may explain the association between short body and an increased risk of heart disease.
Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, said that many but not all previous studies stating that they are of short stature may be at high risk for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular death.
So to reduce the overall risk of heart disease, one needs to control the risk factors they might have.