Short stature and prognosis of coronary heart disease in women

Objectives. To investigate the effect of short stature on prognosis followi ng an acute event of coronary heart disease (CHD) in women. Setting. All women who were hospitalized for an acute event of CHD in any o f the 10 cardiology clinics in greater Stockholm were investigated for the first time in the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study between 1991 and 199 4, and were followed until August 1997 for recurrent coronary events. Design. A follow-up study of women with either acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or unstable angina pectoris, Median follow-up period was 4.8 years. Subjects. A total of 292 Swedish women, aged 65 years or younger. Main outcome measures. Recurrent AMI, death from CHD or revascularization p rocedure (percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and coronary arter y bypass grafting). Results. Independent of the confounding effects of other risk factors of cl inical importance for CHD (age, socioeconomic status, menopausal status, in dex event, congestive heart failure, angina severity, diabetes, hypertensio n, smoking, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol), the shortest 25% of women ( <160 cm) had a 2.1-fold (95% CI = 1.0-4.4) increased rate of developing adv erse cardiac events (cardiovascular death, recurrent AMI or revascularizati on procedure) compared with the tallest 25% (>165 cm). In addition, an incr eased rate was observed for each 10 cm difference in height (hazard ratio = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.4-2.7). Similar results were observed when analysing each outcome separately. Conclusions. These data indicate that short stature is a strong predictor o f poor prognosis after an acute coronary event in women, independent of soc ioeconomic status and other risk factors for CHD.