'Heart risk' being a short

Latest research
Short people are more likely to expand heart disease, researchers say.
Being under 5ft 4in or 165.4cm if you are a man and below 5ft or 153cm if you are a woman poses a risk, they say.
After analyzing data on over 3m people, they found shorter adults were 1.5 times more likely to develop and die from heart disease than tall adults.

Growth role in childhood
Shorter people may have smaller blood vessels to the heart that clog more easily.
Or factors that can stunt growth, like poor nutrition during childhood, could play a role, they add.
By reviewing 52 separate studies, the researcher team found a strong link between stature and heart disease risk, although it is not clear precisely why.
Researcher said short people should not be worried by her findings.

Height and weight control
"Height is only one factor that may contribute to heart disease risk, and whereas people have no control over their height, they can control their weight, as well as lifestyle habits such as smoking, drinking and exercise. All of these together affect their heart disease risk.
"In addition, because the average height of populations is constantly increasing, this may have a beneficial effect on deaths and illness from cardiovascular disease."
Researcher said short adults might benefit from realizing their increased risk.
"Most of us know about our own height ranking, and, if we are at the low end, we should take coronary risk factor control more seriously.

"On the other hand, tall people are not protected against coronary heart disease, and they also need to pay attention to the same risk factors as shorter people."
Researcher said more research into this "peculiar" link was needed.
"Whilst height is used to calculate Body Mass Index - a marker that might help indicate a risk of heart disease - there are lots of other risk factors to take into account like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and obesity.

Regular Exercise

"It doesn't matter if you are tall, short or somewhere in between, it's still so important to do regular exercise, eat a healthy and balanced diet, stop smoking and control your weight to protect your heart health."