The taller you are, the greater the risk of atrial fibrillation

Being tall has always been considered an asset, but what if it was also a risk to your health? According to a new study by Penn Medicine Research (USA), tall people are at greater risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a rapid, irregular and frequent heartbeat that can, among other things, cause strokes. and heart failure. This research is one of the first to reveal a correlation between genetic factors associated with height and the risk of atrial fibrillation. It shows that height may be a causal risk factor for the condition. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s 2019 Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia.

The researchers discovered that the risk of atrial fibrillation increases as height increases by one inch (Anglo-Saxon unit of measurement corresponding to 2.54cm). For each person taller than 1.75m, the risk of atrial fibrillation increases by 3%, excluding other risk factors. According to Michael Levin, a cardiovascular medicine researcher at Penn Medicine Research, it would be desirable to include height in tools for predicting the risk of atrial fibrillation. Although current guidelines oppose widespread screening for atrial fibrillation, the results of this research show that very tall patients should benefit from screening.

A review of 1.2 million people

To reach this conclusion, the researchers studied data collected by the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Trials (GIANT) consortium, which examined more than 700,000 people, to identify genetic factors associated with height. Data from the AFGen (Atrial Fibrillation Genetics) consortium, collected from screening more than 500,000 people to identify genetic variations associated with atrial fibrillation, were also studied.

Using a statistical method that accurately estimates the link between two traits, the researchers found that genetic variants associated with height were also associated with atrial fibrillation, suggesting a strong correlation between them. These same results repeated themselves even after the team tailored their measurements to traditional risk factors for atrial fibrillation, such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Next, the researchers used another statistical tool to analyze about 7,000 people enrolled in the Penn Medicine Biobank. They found that height-related genetic variants were also strongly associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation, which were independent of clinical risk factors.

Confirmation of a previous study

A previous study on height and heart disease, published in 2014 in PubMed, already indicated that atrial fibrillation was more common in tall people than in short people. The article also noted that Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting the body’s connective tissue, was associated with increased height. Also, taller patients without Marfan syndrome were more prone to mitral valve prolapse. On the other hand, the article noted that problems like congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease and aortic valve calcification were less common in tall patients.

“These analyzes show how we can use human genetics to help us better understand the causative risk factors for common diseases,” said Scott Damrauer, assistant professor of surgery at Penn Medicine. Regarding research methods, the professor says the current results show how statistics from large published studies can be combined with individual data from institutional biobanks to improve our understanding of diseases.