--- description: A study of nearly 200,000 men and women found that shorter people have a higher risk of heart disease than their taller counterparts title: Shorter People More at Risk From Heart Disease: Study image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte39e4bc125c0a921/6987ea423c1639d2fb455682/72964838.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Shorter People More at Risk From Heart Disease Says Study  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 9, 2015 12:18 PM CUT  Short business man standing next to tall man Short business man standing next to tall manRoy Hsu—Getty Images/Uppercut  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 9, 2015 12:18 PM CUT A study of nearly 200,000 men and women found that shorter people [have a higher risk of heart disease ](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32117018 "undefined")than their taller counterparts. Every 2.5 inches up reduce the risk of heart disease by 13.5 percent, according to [the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1404881?query=featured%5Fhome#Results "undefined") on Wednesday. Scientists have long considered there to be a link between height and heart health, but the latest research found that genes controlling height were directly linked to heart disease risks. To be sure, height is only one of many factors that affect the level of risk. “In the context of major risk factors this is small – smoking increases the risk by 200-300% – but it is not trivial,” Nilesh Samani, a professor of cardiology at the University of Leicester and lead author of the study, [told the BBC News website](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32117018 "undefined"). “If you’re 6ft 1in, you still need to stop smoking.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3815022/shorter-people-heart-disease/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3815022/shorter-people-heart-disease/"},"headline":"Shorter People More at Risk From Heart Disease Says Study","datePublished":"2015-04-09T12:18:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:15:56.057Z","description":"\"If you're 6ft 1in, you still need to stop smoking\"","url":"https://time.com/3815022/shorter-people-heart-disease/","keywords":["Smoking","Heart Disease","Disease","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte39e4bc125c0a921/6987ea423c1639d2fb455682/72964838.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte39e4bc125c0a921/6987ea423c1639d2fb455682/72964838.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"72964838","caption":"72964838","creditText":"Roy Hsu—Getty Images/Uppercut","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3815022/shorter-people-heart-disease/","name":"Shorter People More at Risk From Heart Disease Says Study"}}]}] ```