Independent association of leg-height ratio with 15 cardiometabolic diseases
Main finding · 15 major CMDResult — go to the resultHazard ratio 1.39 CI 1.29–1.49Authors' conclusion
LHR has independent and differential effects on a suite of CMD traits. The protective association between LHR and CMD is mainly mediated by lipids, and genes shared between LHR and these outcomes are predominantly enriched in development and differentiation of skeletal and embryonic tissues.
Study context
- Population
- UK Biobank participants; Leg-height ratio (LHR) = leg length/standing height, adjusted for overall height
- Exposure
- Low vs medium or high leg-height ratio, by height category
- Outcome
- Associations of LHR and height with 15 major cardiometabolic diseases
Methodological detailsUK Biobank, phenotypic and genetic levels, mediation and colocalization analyses
- UK Biobank
- Phenotypic and genetic levels
- Mediation and colocalization analyses
Main finding
15 major CMD
Hazard ratio
1.39
CI 1.29–1.49
P = 2.7 × 10-20
Tall with low LHRvs Short or medium height with higher LHR
HR 1.39 (CI 1.29–1.49); P = 2.7 × 10-20
As reported in the abstract
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Genome-wide association study (GWAS) of LHR
- Genome-wide significant LHR variants
- 747
- SNP-based heritability, LHR
- 24%
- SNP-based heritability, height
- 47%
Mediation and colocalization
- Lipids (especially HDL-C) mainly mediated protective effect of LHR on cardiometabolic diseases (CMD); inflammatory markers (especially neutrophils) mainly mediated effect of height
- LHR-specific variants colocalized with CMD, incl. T2D at JAZF1 locus
Original publication
Independent association of leg-height ratio with 15 cardiometabolic diseases. Cardiovasc Diabetol. Published 18 January 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →