Association between height and circulating CD34-positive cells taken into account for the influence of enhanced production among elderly Japanese men: a cross-sectional study

Recent studies have revealed an inverse association between height and cardiovascular disease and that endothelial progenitor cells (CD34-positive cells) contribute to vascular maintenance, which is associated with cardiovascular disease. However, evidence of the association between height and CD34-positive positive cells among elderly participants is limited. To assess this association, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 231 elderly Japanese men aged 65–69. Since enhanced production of circulating CD34-positive cells in response to endothelial injury might act have a strong confounding effect on the association between height and circulating CD34-positive cells, the median value for the levels of these cells (0.93 cells/μL) was used to stratify the participants. Multivariable linear regression analysis demonstrated that height was significantly positively associated with circulating CD34-positive cells for those participants with low levels of circulating CD34-positive cells (n=114) but not for those with higher levels (n=117), with a multi-adjusted standardized parameter estimate (β) of 0.27 (p=0.008) for low and 0.11 (0.275) for higher circulating CD34-positive cell levels. The positive association is limited to participants with relatively low circulating CD34-positive cell levels, whose productivity of these cells is not activated. Our findings indicate that height is an indicator of vascular maintenance capability in elderly Japanese men.