Being short 'raises heart risk'

Short people are more likely to develop heart disease, researchers say.

Being under 5ft 4in or 165.4cm if you are a man and below 5ft or 153cm if you are a woman poses a risk, they say.

After analysing data on over 3m people, they found shorter adults were 1.5 times more likely to develop and die from heart disease than tall adults.

Shorter people may have smaller blood vessels to the heart that clog more easily, the Finnish team suggested in the European Heart Journal.

Or factors that can stunt growth, like poor nutrition during childhood, could play a role, they add.

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