TEHRAN According to scientists who examined hundreds of skeletons in northeast England dating back to the ninth century, tall people tend to live longer.

It seems people who lack height have been disadvantaged for centuries when it comes to life span but it's not clear whether this is a purely modern phenomenon or has always been the case.

The findings were reported Wednesday in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The 490 skeletons chosen were among about 3,000 sets of remains unearthed from graves at ST Peter's Church in the small town of Barton on Humber not far from Grimsby. The remains dated from the 9th century to about 1850.

Researchers led by Dr David Gunnell, from the Department of Social Medicine at Bristol University, measured the lengths of all available bones to the nearest millimeter. Sex and age at death were then calculated using standard methods.

They found that walking tall has always gone hand in hand with living longer. For centuries people of short stature have tended to lead shorter lives too.

Of the total, 178 men and 123 women were found to have died before the age of 45, and 124 men and 94 women never reached the age of 30. For all bones examined, the chances of dying before turning 30 decreased as bone length increased.

"Height is an indicator of childhood health and childhood growth continue to operate and affect health in adulthood," wrote the researchers.

The scientists said that although short bones appear to have always been a marker of short life in the past short stature may have increased the risk of death in childbirth which could account for the higher risk of premature mortality in women.