This blog is excerpted from a Health Day article by Robert Preidt on August 11, 2021, and a study published on BMJ Open on August 9, 2021.
In a study conducted in Scandinavia, loss of height among middle-aged women was linked to an increased risk of early death from heart attack and stroke, researchers report. Sofia Klingberg of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden led the study.
Some loss of height goes along with aging, and previous studies have suggested it may boost the odds of death from heart disease. While women tend to shrink more than men with age, height loss in women has not been well studied. The objective of the study was to examine height changes in middle-aged northern European women in relation to overall and cardiovascular mortality.
The study included more than 2,400 Swedish and Danish women born between 1908 and 1952.
Their height was checked between 30 and 60 years of age and again 10 to 13 years later.
Date and cause of death were monitored for 17 to 19 years after the second height measurement.
On average, women lost 0.3 inches in height between the two measurements, with amounts ranging from 0 to 5.5 inches.
Over 19 years of monitoring, 625 of the women died. Cardiovascular disease (including 37 cases of stroke) was the primary cause of death in 157 women; 362 died from other causes, according to the report.
After adjusting for potential influences such as weight, tobacco and alcohol use, physical activity and education, the researchers found that each 0.4 inch of lost height increased the risk of early death from any cause by 14% among the Swedish women and 21% among the Danes.
Major height loss (more than 0.8 inch) was linked to an overall 74% higher risk of early death for Swedish women and 80% higher risk for Danish women, the investigators found.
Pooled data from both groups linked major height loss to more than twice the risk of death from stroke and heart disease and a 71% higher risk of early death from all causes.
The researchers also reported an association with a smaller loss of height among women who were shorter and more active when they entered the study.
The study concludes, “Knowledge on how to prevent height loss is sparse. Pharmaceutical treatment for osteoporosis with alendronate has shown to prevent height loss in addition to improving bone mineral content, while supplements with calcium and vitamin D have not been proven to prevent height loss. Concerning lifestyle, physical activity has been identified as protective against height loss in postmenopausal women. Our results confirmed that regular physical exercise could contribute significantly to height loss prevention. Still, these results suggest that moderate activity may not be enough to prevent height loss and only one in seven women in the current cohorts were active enough to benefit from physical activity in relation to decreased height loss. More research is thus needed, not only on the consequences of height loss but also on the causes to facilitate prevention of height loss and associated comorbidity and mortality.”
Read the Health Day article here: https://consumer.healthday.com/b-8-11-could-women-s-health-risks-rise-as-they-lose-height-2654597403.html
Read the full study in BMJ Open here: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/11/8/e049122.full.pdf