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 05 July 2008 04:19 BST

Study links short arms and legs to dementia

Tuesday, 06 May 2008 10:12
Women with longer legs may have a decreased risk of dementia, study says

Health In Focus 

Leggy women with long arms could have a smaller risk of developing dementia in later life, new research suggests.

The study, published in the journal Neurology, says the association between short limbs and dementia risk could be due to poor nutrition in early life, which can affect limb growth.

Scientists from the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study followed nearly 2,800 people for an average of five years and took knee height and arm span measurements.

By the end of the study 480 people had developed dementia.

Women with the shortest arm spans were 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia than women with longer arm spans.

The risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease was reduced by 16 per cent for every inch longer a woman's leg was.

Only arm span was linked to a lower dementia risk in men,

For every extra inch in arm length, men had a six per cent decreased dementia risk.

"Body measures such as knee height and arm span are often used as biological indicators of early life deficits, such as a lack of nutrients," said researcher Dr Tina Huang.

"Because the development of the brain region most severely affected by Alzheimer's disease coincides with the greatest change in limb length, we thought it was possible that men and women with shorter limbs could be at greater risk for developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease."

The researchers say their study is consistent with earlier research conducted in Korean populations, where shorter limb length was associated with greater risk of dementia.
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