Short People More Likely to Die of Heart Failure

The study, found people who are very short are 50% more likely to die due to cardiovascular disease. This isn't the first time height and heart disease have been linked. In 1951, a study found that the average height of a person under 40 hospitalized due to heart attack was 5.08 cm shorter than their non-hospitalized counterparts. Since then, many studies have confirmed the link between short stature and heart failure, while others have claimed the link was a myth. 

Researchers in Finland decided to put this question to rest by examining 52 relevant, peer-reviewed studies encompassing 3,012,747 people of different ages, races and gender.

They compared outcomes for the shortest group, below 160.5 centimeters (5-foot-3-inches), with the tallest group, above 173.9 cm (5-foot-7), and found the short people were far more likely to die than the tall group.

Why shorter people are at greater risk is still up for debate, note the researchers.

"Most commonly, in previous studies it has been suggested that the reason behind this association could be low socioeconomic background with associated risk factors such as poor nutrition and infections resulting in poor fetal or early-life growth," the study's authors wrote.

The researchers also warn the studies they examined all dealt with external factors like age, sex, smoking, lipid disorders and diabetes in different ways, if they dealt with them at all.

A study that was in part funded by the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research has determined that short people are 50% more likely to have heart problems, the Associated Press is reporting.

While there have been previous studies that showed a link between height and heart problems such as angina, this particular body of research was a vast review of this prior data. 

Specifically, the researchers focused on 52 papers with data on height and heart problems in 3 million male and female patients worldwide.  They found that those who were the shortest in a given population were 1.5 times more likely to have heart problems than their taller counterparts.   In general, short people were defined as those shorter than 5'3"; those considered tall were at least 5'9".

Dr Paajanen and her colleagues found that compared to those in the tallest group, the people in the shortest group were nearly 1.5 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease (CVD) or coronary heart disease (CHD), or to live with the symptoms of CVD or CHD, or to suffer a heart attack, compared with the tallest people.

Looking at men and women separately, short men were 37% more likely to die from any cause compared with tall men, and short women were 55% more likely to die from any cause compared with their taller counterparts.

Although this current research shows a link between height and heart ailments, those taking part in the study emphasize that lifestyle factors still have a more direct effect on heart health. For example, those who smoke are 4 times more likely to have heart problems than nonsmokers.

Additionally, researchers were quick to point out that though the link between heart health and height is there, more research will need to be done to determine exactly what the correlation is. 

Tuula Paajenen, lead author from the Tampere University Hospital in Finland suggests that people focus on those factors they can change, rather than put too much emphasis on the height issue.

Published online June 9 in the European Heart Journal