Height Is a Factor in Risk for Heart Disease
While factors such as weight, smoking and blood pressure are much more important when it comes to risk factors of heart disease, an article published by MSNBC reports that short people (under 5’3”) have a 50% higher risk of having heart problems than tall people (over 5’9”).
The study, paid for by the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, went through 52 earlier papers written by experts with data on height and heart issues for over 3 million men and women. These papers did not focus on height alone, but it was found that short people were 1.5X more likely to die from heart issues.
Scientists are unsure exactly why shorter people are at such a higher risk for heart problems. One popular guess is that shorter people generally have smaller body parts such as arteries, which makes it easier for them to get clogged up. No matter what the scientific reason for the elevated risk, Borge Nordestgaard, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Copenhagen not connected to the study suggest the only thing for short people to do is pay close attention to heart health when he said, “We don’t want to scare short people, but perhaps they should be extra cautious about their lifestyle.”
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
