SHORT STATURE AND HEART-DISEASE - NATURE OR NURTURE

Background. Previous studies have demonstrated that short men are at i ncreased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). It has been suggested t hat the inverse relationship between adult height and CHD risk could b e attributable to the fetal origins of CHD. Method. The hypothesis tha t transmissible factors could partly explain the association has been tested in the European Atherosclerosis Research Studies (I and II), in which a sample of healthy university students (cases), drawn from 18 European countries (male: n = 721; female: n = 330), whose fathers had had a documented myocardial infarction before the age of 55 years wer e compared to age-and sex-matched controls (male: n = 1056; female: n = 638). Information about lifestyle and birthweight was collected and a tasting blood sample was obtained from each subject. Results. In fem ales there was no difference in height between cases and controls but male cases were shorter than controls, on average by one cm, both in t he EARS I (P = 0.02) and the EARS II studies (P = 0.01) and this diffe rence was independent of reported birthweight and the fathers' educati onal attainment. In logistic regression the relationship was independe nt of the subjects' apolipoprotein B level, the other major biological discriminator of case-control status. Conclusion. In men at least, he ight appears to be an independent transmissible risk factor for CHD.