Taller women more likely to get cancer

[Wowbagger]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jul/21/taller-women-cancer-study

A woman's chances of developing cancer rose by 16% for every extra 10cm (4in) in height, found the study, which looked at 97,000 women with the disease between 5ft and 5ft 9in tall.

In females of average height, the overall incidence is 850 cancers per 100,000 women per year. In those around 5ft tall it is 750 cancers per 100,000 women per year. But in those around 5ft 9in, it is about 1,000 cancers per 100,000 women per year.

Apparently, for whatever reason taller women are less likely to die from other causes, e.g. cardiovascular disease, but the article doesn't say to what extent. Given that everyone dies of something eventually, then this could well be part of the reason.

[border-rider]

That would be my first guess. Second might be that tallness in this country is associated with population mixing, with lifestyle choices  and with socio-economic status, all of which are linked to incidence of some cancers. And then it really may be that whatever gene mix favours height also has some outcome in cancer risk

Most likely it's a mix of those three...I'd hope they'd tried to control for the effects of BMI on other death causes, though

[Wowbagger]

The suggestion in the article is that the experts think dietary considerations might be significant.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

You'd think that would be the case. Diet significantly affects height.

[arabella]

Can't see that the article says enough to be useful.
What did the shorter women die of instead?
What factors were controlled for other than height? eg age, lifestyle?

[Exit Stage Left]

They're nearer the sun, so they get skin cancer. There might be something in that though, height seems to be linked to fair skin in Northern Europeans, and those groups in the UK with that genetic heritage might be distributed in areas with lots of cloud cover. Changes in behaviour have led to more exposure to bright sunlight.

[hellymedic]

I am going to ignore this report.
I cannot change my height.
I have no kids.
If I were to have had kids, I would have preferred them to have been born big & bouncing after a trouble-free pregnancy; these are often the kids who end up tall. The small babies sometimes have a higher chance of high blood pressure and all the cardiovascular grief with which that is associated. Babies who do not develop well in utero are more likely to be delivered early, with all the complications that can cause. These babies are often also short.