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Shorter childhood height increases risk for future stroke
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Patients who were short at age 7 to 13 years have an increased risk for ischemic stroke, according to a study published in Stroke.
The risk for intracerebral hemorrhage was also increased in men who were short at age 7 to 13 years, but not in women.
“Our study suggests that short height in children is a possible marker of stroke risk and suggests these children should pay extra attention to changing or treating modifiable risk factors for stroke throughout life to reduce the chances of having this disease,” Jennifer Lyn Baker, PhD, associate professor in the Center for Clinical Research and Prevention at Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg in Denmark and Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, said in a press release.
Line Klingen Gjærde, MD, PhD student at the Center for Clinical Research and Prevention at Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, and colleagues analyzed data from 311,009 participants (49% women) who were born from 1930 to 1989. Participants who had a stroke before age 25 years were excluded. Height was measured from age 7 to 13 years.
Participants were followed up until death, stroke, emigration or Dec. 31, 2013, whichever came first, for a median of 31.1 years.
During follow-up, 7,645 men and 5,313 women were diagnosed with first-ever intracerebral hemorrhage (19.6%) or ischemic stroke (80.4%).
A 1 z score increase in height at age 7 years was linked to a 10% reduced risk for ischemic stroke in men (HR = 0.9; 95% CI, 0.88-0.92) and 11% reduced risk in women (HR = 0.89; 95% CI, 0.87-0.92). This score difference corresponds with approximately 5.1 cm in boys and an estimated 5.2 cm in girls at age 7 years.
Height at 7 years was also associated with a reduced risk for intracerebral hemorrhage in men (HR = 0.89; 95% CI, 0.84-0.94), but not women (HR = 0.97; 95% CI, 0.91-1.04).
When using absolute height and z scores, the associations were consistent across all birth cohorts and childhood ages and did not differ between the sexes.
There was limited evidence for both sexes on the link between growth from age 7 to 13 years and intracerebral hemorrhage (women: HR = 0.98; 95% CI, 0.92-1.04; men: HR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.94-1.05) or ischemic stroke (women: HR = 1.03; 95% CI, 1-1.66; men: HR = 1.02; 95% CI, 0.99-1.5).
“It thus remains a possibility that childhood height is an indicator of other factors experienced during early life, maybe already in utero, expressing their effects on growth as well as stroke risk in adulthood which have not changed during our long study period,” Gjærde and colleagues wrote. “As some strokes occur relatively early in adult life, it is plausible that early-life exposures have a greater influence on stroke early in adulthood compared with stroke diagnosed later in life.” – by Darlene Dobkowski
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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