Shorter height is directly associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease

I have previously read that shorter people usually have narrower blood vessels. So they would clog up faster. I didn't see an indication in this article that they looked at that. Also, short people have less cancer.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-04/uol-shi040815.php

Public Release: 8-Apr-2015
University of Leicester

"We have shown that the association between shorter height and higher risk of coronary heart disease is a primary relationship and is not due to confounding factors such as nutrition or poor socioeconomic conditions."- Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, BHF Professor of Cardiology at the University of Leicester.

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The shorter you are- the more your risk of coronary heart disease.

That's the key finding of a new study led by the University of Leicester which discovered that every 2.5 inches change in your height affected your risk of coronary heart disease by 13.5%. For example, compared to a 5ft 6inch tall person, a 5 foot tall person on average has a 32% higher risk of coronary heart disease because of their relatively shorter stature.

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Dr Nelson added: "We also examined whether the association we found between shorter height and higher risk of coronary heart disease could be explained by an effect of height on known risk factors for coronary heart disease like cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes etc. We only observed an association with cholesterol and fat levels which could explain a small proportion (less than a third) of the relationship between shorter height and coronary heart disease. The rest is probably explained by shared biological processes that determine achieved height and the development of coronary heart disease at the same time".

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