A recent study has revealed that an individual’s height has a link to risk of developing blood clots in veins. This new study has analysed more than two million siblings. The findings of the study showed that the risk of venous thromboembolism, which is a type of blood clot that develops in vein, was linked to height, with the lowest risk being in the shortest participants.
"Height in the population has increased, and continues increasing, which could be contributing to the fact that the incidence of thrombosis has increased," said lead researcher Bengt Zoller, Associate Professor at Lund University in Sweden.
According to Zoller, gravity may influence the association between height and venous thromboembolism risk.
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"It could just be that because taller individuals have longer leg veins there is more surface area where problems can occur," Zoller said.
"There is also more gravitational pressure in leg veins of taller persons that can increase the risk of blood flow slowing or temporarily stopping."
For the study, reported in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, the team looked at data on more than 1.6 million Swedish men born between 1951 and 1992, and data on more than one million Swedish women who had a first pregnancy between 1982 and 2012.
For men shorter than 5 feet 3 inches, the risk for venous thromboembolism dropped 65 per cent when compared to the men 6 feet 2 inches or taller.
For women shorter than 5 feet 1 inches who were pregnant for the first time, the risk for venous thromboembolism dropped 69 per cent, compared to women that were 6 feet or taller. Apart from that, the risk of blood clots, previous studies have linked height also with cancer, heart problems, gestational diabetes and even longevity.
(With IANS Inputs)
