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Aging News & Information
Shrinking Older Men at Increased Risk of Death with
Loss of Inch in Height
Underlying mechanism may contribute to both bone
loss, which leads to height loss, and coronary heart and other diseases
|
Conversion Table |
|
centimeters |
inches |
|
1 |
0.39 |
|
2 |
0.79 |
|
3 |
1.18 |
|
4 |
1.57 |
|
5 |
1.97 |
December 12, 2006 - Men who lose 3 centimeters
(slightly over an inch) or
more of height as they age have an increased risk of death and of
coronary heart diseases events, according to a report in the December
11/25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives
journals.
Changes in bone, muscles and joints typically lead
men and women to become shorter as they age, according to background
information in the article. Although a small amount of height loss is
normal and probably not associated with any disease, more significant
height loss may be a sign of osteoporosis (thinning of the bones).
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Aging News & Information |
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Substantial height loss can affect breathing and digestive functions,
leading to poor eating habits and weight loss, and may be associated
with sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass.
S. Goya Wannamethee, Ph.D., Royal Free and
University College Medical School, London, and colleagues studied 4,213
men who originally enrolled in the British Regional Heart Study between
1978 and 1980.
Follow-up examinations were conducted 20 years later,
when the men were 60 to 79 years old. At that time, the men completed a
questionnaire providing details about their lifestyle and medical
history. They were asked to describe their current health
statusexcellent, good, fair or poorand whether their physician had
ever told them they had cardiovascular disease or a number of other
conditions.
Participants height and weight were measured both at the
beginning of the study and at the 20-year follow-up; they were monitored
through 2004 to see if they had developed cardiovascular disease, and
deaths were tracked through 2005.
Between the initial examination and the 20-year
follow-up, the men lost an average of 1.67 centimeters of height.
The
researchers divided the participants into four groups based on how much
their height changed: 1,471 lost less than 1 centimeter; 1,330 lost
between 1 and 1.9 centimeters; 807 lost between 2 and 2.9 centimeters;
and 605 were 3 centimeters shorter or more. During the average of five
years that they were followed after that, 760 men died.
Risk of death increased with height loss and was
substantially higher in men who lost 3 centimeters or morethey were 64
percent more likely to die during the course of the study than those who
lost less than 1 centimeter. Most of the additional deaths in men who
had lost height were attributable to cardiovascular disease, respiratory
disease or other non-cancer diseases. Height loss was also associated
with an increased risk for coronary heart disease events, even after the
researchers adjusted for prior cardiovascular disease and its known risk
factors.
It is unclear exactly which mechanisms are
responsible for the association between height loss, illness and death.
Osteoporosis increases the risk of death and may
play a role; however, it typically causes a loss of 6 centimeters or
more of height.
The significantly increased risk of all-cause
mortality in men with a height loss of 3 centimeters or more was
observed even after exclusion of men with a height loss of 4 centimeters
or more, a total of 283 men, the authors write.
Thus, the increased mortality risk was already
seen in men with a height loss in the range of 3 centimeters to 4
centimeters and was not solely attributable to extreme height loss.
There could also be an underlying mechanism that contributes to both
bone loss, which leads to height loss, and coronary heart and other
diseases.
Editor's Note: The British Regional Heart Study is
a British Heart Foundation Research Group and receives support from the
Department of Health (England).
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