Is Your Height a Risk Factor for Heart Disease?

Being short doesn’t mean you’re doomed to develop heart disease. Here's what you should know about claims that your height is a risk factor for heart disease.

A 1977 song by Randy Newman started off with these lyrics: “Short people got no reason to live.” Although Newman said he meant it as a funny, satirical song about prejudice, many took it as a non-humorous jab at short folks. Then, decades later, shorter-than-average people had another reason to feel “picked on” and maybe downright unlucky when some headlines declared researchers had discovered short people could be stuck with more heart disease due to their size.

But is being short really a risk factor for heart disease? The short answer (pun intended) is: probably not.

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It’s true links between height and heart risks have been noted in some studies. But there’s also evidence these associations don’t hold up for everybody of short stature — indicating that diet and other factors likely play a far more important role in cardiovascular health than your height.

The original study that led to overblown headlines about short folks and heart disease was conducted by a group of international researchers, headed by University of Leicester cardiologist Sir Nilesh Samani, who gathered genetic data from around 200,000 men and women around the world.

The researchers found that, on average, a person about five feet tall had a 30 percent greater chance of developing heart disease than a person who was 5 feet 6 inches tall. The study concluded each extra 2.5 inches of height resulted in a 13.5 percent reduction in heart disease risk.  

Looking for an explanation, the research team studied genetic variations linked to short stature that could result in an elevated risk of heart disease. Although there are about 180 gene variants that control height, Samani and his colleagues found only one clear way these genetic variants linked to short stature might increase heart disease risk. The genetic variations raise levels of LDL (the artery clogging “bad” cholesterol) and triglycerides (blood fats associated with heart disease risk) — but only slightly.

These small elevations in cholesterol and triglycerides hardly seem a possible explanation for an increased risk factor for heart disease, a fact the researchers noted in their study. They proposed some other as-yet-not-understood role height genes might play in causing more cardiovascular disease, according to Sekar Kathiresan, MD, director of preventive cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, a co-author of the study.

Not everyone was convinced, however, that there is a firm link between short stature and heart risk at all — and certainly not for all short people. In fact, other researchers found just the opposite.

For example, southern Europeans tend to have short stature and yet have low rates of cardiac death. Citizens of Portugal and Spain, who are five inches shorter than people in northern Europe on average, are about two times less likely to have fatal cardiovascular disease than the much taller natives of Norway and Sweden.  

What’s more, natives of Japan's Okinawa islands are some of the healthiest people on the planet — and some of the shortest. The average height of an Okinawan man is only 4’ 9.” Yet Okinawans tend to have extremely long and healthy lifespans with the lowest rates of cancer and heart disease in the world. In fact, Okinawans are 7 times more likely to live to be 100 or older than people in other areas.  

How can the original worrisome research findings about short people and heart disease risk be explained? It turns out, the researchers may not have looked at other factors that could explain not only short stature in some people but also heart disease risk.

For instance, some researchers suggest that when studies reveal more heart disease among shorter people, it could be the result of variables like childhood illness and poor environmental conditions that resulted in shorter statue and impacted the cardiovascular system. They also cite the influence of unhealthy diets, especially in industrialized and poor nations.  

Research into the short Okinawans backs up the association between food, lifestyle, and protection from heart disease. Okinawans typically eat a low-calorie diet with whole grains, fish, and lots of vegetables. They regularly drink tea, which is loaded with antioxidants, too. They also are active and keep their weight on the slim side.

When Okinawans move away to the U.S. or to mainland Japan, however, their risk of heart disease increases and life expectancy decreases, most likely due to a change in diet and lifestyle.

Clearly, they aren’t suddenly developing heart disease because they are short.

The bottom line, whether you are short, tall, or in-between, is simple: You can take control of your lifestyle and lower your risk of cardiovascular disease by watching your weight, exercising regularly, keeping stress under control, stopping smoking, and eating a heart-healthy diet.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute offers more information about how to help prevent cardiovascular disease with a heart-healthy lifestyle.

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