A study of height and coronary heart disease was published online ahead of print in the New England Journal of Medicine. The investigators found a relative increase in coronary heart disease risk of 13.5% (95% confidence interval 5.4 to 22.1; P<0.001) for each 1-SD (6.5 cm) decrease in genetically determined height. Part of this association (30%) could be explained by high ldl cholesterol and triglycerides in short people. A 2010 meta-analysis in the European Heart Journal confirmed the association of short stature with coronary heart disease. And several epidemiological studies also suggest that short people have more risk factors for coronary heart disease, including hypertension, elevated LDL cholesterol and diabetes mellitus. The meta-analysis showed an 8% increased risk of fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease for a height of 1 SD lower (approximately 6.5 cm), with essentially no change after correction for factors such as smoking or not, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, BMI, lipids, alcohol consumption, education level, and occupation. However, the mechanism for the increased risk of coronary heart disease in short individuals is unknown. The researchers of the study took 180 single nucleotide polymorphisms affecting 10% of height and studied the association between them and coronary heart disease. The study confirmed the inverse association between height and coronary heart disease observed in epidemiological studies. However, unlike epidemiological studies, which suggest an association between height and coronary heart disease in both men and women, this study did not show an association in women. There were relatively few women in this study, so it is uncertain whether this is a difference between the sexes or whether there is insufficient statistical validity for women. The advantage of genetic studies is that they reduce the interference of lifestyle or environmental factors. But it does not exclude the increased risk of coronary heart disease caused by the lifestyle choices of shorter people. However, the study showed no association between height and smoking. Height and block size were positively associated with coronary artery diameter. Therefore, a possible simple explanation for the higher risk of coronary heart disease in short people is that they have relatively smaller coronary artery diameters and therefore a greater likelihood of symptoms from the same size plaque load.