Height Loss Associated With Increased Risk of Death

Men who lose 3 cm or more of height as they age have an increased risk of death and of coronary heart diseases events, according to a new report.

Researchers from the Royal Free and University College Medical School (RF&UCMS, London, UK) studied 4,213 men who originally enrolled in the British Regional Heart Study between 1978 and 1980. Follow-up examinations were conducted 20 years later, when the men were 60-79 years old. At that time, the men completed a questionnaire providing details about their lifestyle and medical history. Participants' height and weight were measured both at the beginning of the study and at the 20-year follow-up; they were monitored through 2004 to see if they had developed cardiovascular disease, and deaths were tracked through 2005.

Between the initial examination and the 20-year follow-up, the men lost an average of 1.67 cm of height. During an average of five years that they were followed after that, 760 men died. Risk of death increased with height loss and was substantially higher in men who lost 3 cm or more, who were 64% more likely to die during the course of the study than those who lost less than one centimeter. Most of the additional deaths in men who had lost height were attributable to cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, or other non-cancer diseases. The study was published in December 2006 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

"The significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality in men with a height loss of 3 cm or more was observed even after exclusion of men with a height loss of 4 cm or more,” said lead author S. Goya Wannamethee, Ph.D., and colleagues. "Thus, the increased mortality risk was already seen in men with a height loss in the range of 3-4 centimeters and was not solely attributable to extreme height loss.”



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