Lack of the association between height and cardiovascular prognosis in hypertensive men and women: analysis of national real-world database

Abstract

Data on the association between height and cardiovascular risk are still conflicting. Moreover, no reports are showing this issue in hypertensive patients. This study was performed to investigate whether height affects cardiovascular prognosis in hypertensive patients using nation-wide real-world data. Using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, we analyzed 461,492 Korean hypertensive patients without any prior history of cardiovascular disease between January 2002 and December 2017. The incidence of a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke was assessed according to height quintiles. In univariable comparisons, the taller the patients, the younger the age and the higher the proportion of men. In multivariable cox regression analyses, height was not associated with the occurrence of cardiovascular events. Although the risk of clinical events increased in some height quintiles compared to the first height quintile, there was no tendency to increase the risk according to the increase in the height quintile. These results were similar even when men and women were analyzed separately. In the same quintile group of height, there were no significant differences in clinical outcomes between sexes. In Korean hypertensive patients, there was no association between height and the occurrence of cardiovascular events. This result did not differ by sex. The clinical use of height for CVD prediction seems to be still tricky in hypertensive patients.