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Heart disease risk greater in short women

June 15, 2004

Short women are more likely to develop heart disease than their leggier sisters, according to new British research.

Scientists have discovered a link between adult leg length - an indicator of diet and living conditions during childhood - and the incidence of coronary heart disease in women.

The Bristol University study, published in Heart today, found that women with heart disease were more likely to be older, more obese and to be former or current smokers.

They were also more likely to have poorer lung function, to have higher cholesterol levels, to be more insulin resistant - a precursor to diabetes - and to come from working class families.

But they were also more likely to have shorter bodies and legs.

Dr Debbie Lawlor, who led the study, said: "The protective effect of tall stature is unlikely to be the result of wider arteries or to less height shrinkage with age.

"Rather it is likely to be a proxy for environmental factors from birth up to puberty which affect both growth of the bones in the legs and also have a long-term effect on heart disease in the future.

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"Breast feeding, high energy diets at the age of two and being born into an affluent family all positively influence growth; having parents who smoke and being born into a poor family negatively influence growth.

"The association between leg length and heart disease suggests that these early life risk factors also cause heart disease."

Dr Lawlor and her colleagues measured the height, leg length, trunk length and weight of more than 4,000 women between the ages of 60 and 79 years of age from 23 British towns.

They also assessed how well their lungs worked, whether they were former or current smokers, and noted their social class.

Almost 700 of the 4,000 women had heart disease. Just under one third (31 per cent) of these 700 women had a history of heart attacks. When all the risk factors were taken into account, the research concluded that leg length remained strongly linked to risk of heart disease.

The study showed the risk decreased by an average of 16 per cent for every increase of 4.3cm in leg length.

- PA