People who develop chronic¹ lung disease are more likely to be shorter in height than the general population, researchers say.

研究人员称，患有慢性肺部疾病的人似乎比正常人群矮一些。

People with COPD often need many medications

The University of Nottingham team looked at more than one million people aged² over 35 for their study.

They say those with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease慢性阻塞性肺病 (COPD) were 1.12cm shorter on average.

They believe that this lack of height may be a 'marker' that people have come from a poorer background.

Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology流行病学 and Community Health, they say that historical studies had shown a strong relationship between adult height and the risk of developing COPD but they wanted to test whether the effect remained today now that living conditions have improved.

They obtained data on 1,025,662 people from a general practice database called the Health Improvement Network.

The association between height and lung disease was strongest in people aged 35 to 49 years and decreased progressively with age.

The smallest height difference was in the over 90s where the average difference was only 0.51cm.

They say this could be because many of the older generation who suffered from the disease actually died from it in recent years.