After gathering genetic data from nearly 200,000 men and women worldwide, the investigators found that each extra 2.5 inches of height brings a 13.5 percent reduction in heart disease risk. “We have shown that the association between shorter height and higher risk of coronary heart disease is a primary relationship and is not due to confounding factors such as nutrition or poor socioeconomic conditions,”said Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, BHF Professor of Cardiology at the University of Leicester. “While our findings do not have any immediate clinical implications, better and fuller understanding of the biological mechanisms that underlie the relationship between shorter height and higher risk of coronary heart disease may open up new ways for its prevention and treatment.” 
 
 The research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. To find out if those variants also affected heart disease risk, Dr. Samani and his colleagues examined the genetic profiles of more than 200,000 people whose DNA had been analyzed in a variety of other studies. Most of these height genes had no obvious connection to heart disease, though a few of them did, such as a trait related to LDL cholesterol and another that influences triglycerides. Dr. Samani and his colleagues found just one link, and it was a very small one: The genetic variants associated with shorter stature also were linked to slightly higher levels of LDL, the form of cholesterol that increases heart disease risk, and to slightly higher levels of triglycerides, blood fats that are also a risk.
– It's tough enough being on the shorter side, and a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine doesn't make things any easier. Researchers in the UK find that being small of stature increases the risk of coronary heart disease, the Telegraph reports. More specifically, for every 2.5 inches shorter we are, our risk increases by 13.5%. In other words, a five-foot tall person has a 32% higher risk of heart disease than a five-foot-six person does. The findings, which involved data on 200,000 people, are tied to genetics; it seems the genes involved in height could also be involved in heart disease. "The more height-increasing genetic variants that you carry, the lower your risk of coronary heart disease—and conversely, if you were genetically shorter, the higher your risk," a researcher notes. That is, at least if you're a man, NPR reports: Researchers didn't discover a clear relationship between height and heart disease risk in women, though that might just be because the study involved more male than female subjects. Experts have been aware of an apparent relationship between height and heart disease since the 1950s without being able to explain it, NPR notes. In fact, the New York Times reports that researchers didn't take the idea that the two were linked very seriously, making these findings a surprise. "This idea that shorter stature is associated with coronary artery disease is something we would laugh about," notes one scientist. Another expert still has doubts, telling the Times that the connection appears "weak." And on the plus side for short men, a study last year found they live longer.