Your weight, blood pressure and smoking habits carry a lot of weight when it comes to accessing your risk for heart problems, but a new study has recently come out to indicate that short people have as much as a 50% higher risk of acquiring a heart complication or even dying from one than tall people.
Earlier studies have shown a connection between height and heart conditions such as angina, heart attacks and angioplasties. This is the first significant analysis of these type of studies, which includes research from all over the world.
During the study, researchers from Finland examined 52 preceding papers that contained information on height and heart problems in more than 3 million men and women.
The patients’ heights were not reviewed objectively by the experts, but within the circumstances of a specific country’s inhabitants. They discovered that the shortest people in the population were 1 1/2 times more prone to acquire heart problems or die from them than the tallest people.
On average, the short people were under 5 feet, 3 inches as compared to the tall people who were at least 5 feet, 9 inches.
Currently, scientists are not clear on why short people could be more vulnerable, but they believe there could be some reasons. For one thing, being short could be the outcome of being poor. Some studies have indicated that taller people are often hired before shorter people. For this reason, some people of small stature could be malnourished, causing them to be prone to health problems in overall. Scientists also believe that more petite arteries could possibly get clogged faster with cholesterol and get harmed easier by changes in blood pressure.
On the more positive side for short people, the lead author of the study , Tuula Paajenen, said that short people do not need to be frightened. She suggested that people concentrate more on taking healthier steps such as eating a balanced diet, exercise, and not smoking; things that are actually possible to change.