Researchers at Bristol University have found a link between adult leg length – an indicator of diet and living conditions during childhood – and coronary heart disease in women. The study, published in Heart next Tuesday [15 June], found that women with shorter legs had an increased risk of coronary heart disease.
Dr Debbie Lawlor and colleagues measured adult height, leg length, trunk length and weight and assessed rates of heart disease among more than 4,000 women between 60 and 79 years of age from 23 British towns. How well their lungs worked, whether they were former or current smokers, and their social class were also taken into account.
Leg length is specifically associated with diet and living conditions in childhood and therefore the researchers were interested to discover whether leg length would be associated with heart disease since this would be further evidence that risk factors in childhood and not just adulthood are important causes of heart disease.
The researchers found that almost 700 women had heart disease, giving a rate of around one in six (16 per cent). Just under one third (31 per cent) of these women had a history of heart attacks; the remainder had angina but had not had a heart attack.