Being short can increase risk of heart disease

As if being short was not already enough of a disadvantage, scientists have now confirmed it increases the risk of heart disease.

In fact the more vertically challenged you are, the greater your chances of having a bad heart.

Scientists investigated 180 genetic variants known to affect height in a study group of almost 200,000 people.

They found that every change in height of around 2.5in linked to these variants raised or lowered the risk of heart disease by around 13.5%.

Dr Christopher Nelson of the University of Leicester said: “The more height-increasing genetic variants that you carry the lower your risk of coronary heart disease, and conversely if you were genetically shorter the higher your risk.”

Compared with someone 5ft 6in tall, a 5ft person on average had a 32% higher risk of heart disease, the study found.

It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

An association between height and heart disease risk has been known for more than 60 years, but scientists did not know if the link was causal.

Factors such as poverty or poor nutrition during childhood could have both increased vulnerability to heart disease and stunted growth.

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