Adult height and the risk of cause-specific death and vascular morbidity in 1 million people: individual participant meta-analysis

David Wormser*, Emanuele Di Angelantonio, Stephen Kaptoge, Angela M. Wood, Pei Gao, Qi Sun, Goeran Walldius, Randi Selmer, W. M. Monique Verschuren, H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, Gunnar Engstrom, Paul M. Ridker, Inger Njolstad, Hiroyasu Iso, Ingar Holme, Simona Giampaoli, Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe, J. Michael Gaziano, Eric J. Brunner, Frank KeeAlberto Tosetto, Christa Meisinger, Hermann Brenner, Pierre Ducimetiere, Peter H. Whincup, Robert W. Tipping, Ian Ford, Peter Cremer, Albert Hofman, Lars Wilhelmsen, Robert Clarke, Ian H. de Boer, J. Wouter Jukema, Alejandro Marin Ibanez, Debbie A. Lawlor, Ralph B., Sr. D'Agostino, Beatriz Rodriguez, Edoardo Casiglia, Coen D. A. Stehouwer, Leon A. Simons, Paul J. Nietert, Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos, Cecilia Bjorkelund, Timo E. Strandberg, Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Dan G. Blazer, Tom W. Meade, Lennart Welin, Kurt Svardsudd, Mark Woodward, Aulikki Nissinen, Daan Kromhout, Torben Jorgensen, Reijo S. Tilvis, Jack M Guralnik, Annika Rosengren, James O. Taylor, Stefan Kiechl, Gilles R. Dagenais, F. Gerry R. Fowkes, Robert B. Wallace, Kay-Tee Khaw, Jonathan A. Shaffer, Marjolein Visser, Jussi Kauhanen, Jukka T. Salonen, John Gallacher, Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Akihiko Kitamura, Johan Sundstrom, Patrik Wennberg, Yutaka Kiyohara, Makoto Daimon, Agustin Gomez-de-la-Camara, Jackie A. Cooper, Altan Onat, Richard B Devereux, Kenneth J. Mukamal, Rachel Dankner, Matthew W. Knuiman, Carlos J. Crespo, Ron T. Gansevoort, Uri Goldbourt, Borge G. Nordestgaard, Jonathan E. Shaw, Michael Mussolino, Hidaeki Nakagawa, Astrid Fletcher, Lewis H. Kuller, Richard F. Gillum, Vilmundur Gudnason, Gerd Assmann, Nicholas Wald, Pekka R. Jousilahti, Philip Greenland, Maurizio Trevisan, Hanno Ulmer, Adam S. Butterworth, Aaron R. Folsom, George Davey-Smith, Frank B. Hu, John Danesh

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background The extent to which adult height, a biomarker of the interplay of genetic endowment and early-life experiences, is related to risk of chronic diseases in adulthood is uncertain. Methods We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) for height, assessed in increments of 6.5 cm, using individual-participant data on 174 374 deaths or major non-fatal vascular outcomes recorded among 1 085 949 people in 121 prospective studies. Results For people born between 1900 and 1960, mean adult height increased 0.5-1 cm with each successive decade of birth. After adjustment for age, sex, smoking and year of birth, HRs per 6.5 cm greater height were 0.97 (95% confidence interval: 0.96-0.99) for death from any cause, 0.94 (0.93-0.96) for death from vascular causes, 1.04 (1.03-1.06) for death from cancer and 0.92 (0.90-0.94) for death from other causes. Height was negatively associated with death from coronary disease, stroke subtypes, heart failure, stomach and oral cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, mental disorders, liver disease and external causes. In contrast, height was positively associated with death from ruptured aortic aneurysm, pulmonary embolism, melanoma and cancers of the pancreas, endocrine and nervous systems, ovary, breast, prostate, colorectum, blood and lung. HRs per 6.5 cm greater height ranged from 1.26 (1.12-1.42) for risk of melanoma death to 0.84 (0.80-0.89) for risk of death from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. HRs were not appreciably altered after further adjustment for adiposity, blood pressure, lipids, inflammation biomarkers, diabetes mellitus, alcohol consumption or socio-economic indicators. Conclusion Adult height has directionally opposing relationships with risk of death from several different major causes of chronic diseases.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1419-1433
JournalInternational Journal of Epidemiology
Volume41
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2012

Keywords

  • Height
  • cardiovascular disease
  • cancer
  • cause-specific mortality
  • epidemiological study
  • meta-analysis

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