This MedPageToday article recaps a British study that evaluated whether there was a correlation between the amount of height that men lose over time and their risk of death.  The study reported in the Dec. 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, showed a clear connection;  the greater the height loss as men age, the more at risk they are for premature death.

 

The excess mortality to due to shrinking was caused by cardiovascular and respiratory problems and other diseases, but not cancer. 

“The study involved 7,735 men ages 40 to 59 years, who were selected from one general practice in each of 24 British communities from 1978 to 1980. Twenty years later -- when the men were between 60 and 79 -- 4,213 surviving members of the cohort underwent a follow-up exam. “

“The study found that, compared with men who lost less than one centimeter in height (about 0.39 inches), those who lost three centimeters or more had a 64% increase in all-cause mortality risk.”

Physicians are apparently unsure why there would be a relationship between shrinking and increased risk of mortality.  One might link it to osteoporosis, but the study excluded the severe shrinking associated with that disease. 

According to the article it's possible the some underlying mechanism is responsible both for height loss and for other health consequences that combine to give rise to the increased risk of death.

This is interesting news but I’m not sure how we can use it to improve our health as the study didn’t evaluate effective means to combat shrinkage.  Intuitively, it would seem that rigorous exercise throughout the aging process would tend to minimize height shrinkage but I have seen no empirical studies of this.  It would be nice to see the next study on this issue include exercise as a study component with a view towards determining whether exercise correlates with reduced excess shrinkage.