This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Genetically determined shorter height linked with increased risk for CAD
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
People with genetically determined shorter height have an increased risk for CAD. Researchers for a new study found a relative increase of 13.5% in the risk for CAD per one standard deviation decrease in genetically determined height, according to findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Possible explanations include an association between shorter height and an adverse lipid profile, and shared biologic processes that determine achieved height and atherosclerosis development, the researchers wrote.
The CARDIoGRAM+C4D Consortium used 180 height-associated genetic variants to test the association between height and CAD. Using a pool of 65,066 cases (73.8% men; 65% with prior MI) and 128,383 controls (49.8% men), researchers tested the association between a change in genetically determined height of one standard deviation (6.5 cm) with the risk for CAD. They also used individual-level genotype data from 18,249 people to examine the risk for CAD associated with presence and number of height-associated alleles. To identify possible mechanisms, they analyzed whether genetically determined height was associated with known CV risk factors and performed a pathway analysis of the height-associated genes.
According to the results, the more height-raising variants a person had, the lower their risk for CAD (OR for fourth quartile vs. first quartile = 0.74; 95% CI, 0.68-0.84).
When the researchers analyzed the relationship between genetically determined height and known CV risk factors, they observed significant associations only for LDL and triglyceride levels. Approximately 19% of the observed association between a genetically determined decrease in height and an increased risk for CAD could be explained by the effect of shorter height on LDL, and approximately 12% of the association could be explained by the effect of shorter height on triglycerides, according to the researchers.
Several overlapping pathways involving genes associated with development and atherosclerosis were identified, including factors promoting cardiogenesis in vertebrates, growth hormone signaling, axonal guidance signaling, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, bone morphogenetic protein signaling, transforming growth factor beta signaling, and insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling.
These findings “underscore the complexity underlying the inherited component of CAD,” Christopher P. Nelson, PhD, from the department of cardiovascular sciences at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, and the National Institute for Health Research Leicester Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, and colleagues wrote. – by Erik Swain
Disclosure: Nelson reports no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts