Abstract
BackgroundThe present study examined whether adult height was associated with all site-combined or site-specific cancers.MethodsWe used a nationwide claim data of 22,809,722 Korean participants including both men and women (2009–2012). The deciles of height from different age and sex groups were merged into a new quintile. We used Cox proportional hazards model to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals.ResultsDuring a 5-year follow-up period, 765,651 patients were diagnosed with cancer. Height was positively associated with risk of all site-combined cancers and with malignancy in the oral cavity, larynx, lung, stomach, colorectum, liver, pancreas, biliary tract and gallbladder, breast, ovary, cervix and corpus uteri, prostate, testes, kidney, bladder, central nervous system, thyroid, skin, and lymphatic and haematopoietic systems. The HRs for all-site cancers per 5 cm increment in height was 1.09 and that of each site was the highest in thyroid, breast, lymphoma, testicular, and renal cancers. This association was more prominent in women and male non-smokers than in other counterparts.ConclusionsTaller adult height was significantly related to an increased risk of most cancers including neoplasm in the gallbladder or biliary tract and testes, but except for oesophagus.
Highlights
Cancer was the second leading cause of death behind cardiovascular diseases
Some early studies have reported that height is associated with an increased risk of all cancers and of specific cancers at various anatomic sites including the breast, prostate, and colorectum,[1,2,3] the results were inconsistent according to gender, smoking status or body mass index (BMI).[4,5,6,7]
Data source Approximately 97% of the Korean population is registered with the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC), a single public health insurance programme, managed by the Korean government
Summary
Cancer was the second leading cause of death behind cardiovascular diseases. While the association between obesity (or visceral obesity) and cancer has been exhaustedly evaluated, the effect of height on the risk of having malignancy has received far less attention. Some early studies have reported that height is associated with an increased risk of all cancers and of specific cancers at various anatomic sites including the breast, prostate, and colorectum,[1,2,3] the results were inconsistent according to gender, smoking status or body mass index (BMI).[4,5,6,7] literature that included both sexes and a controlled possible compounder, such as weight or smoking, is limited, and most studies were conducted in Western countries. CONCLUSIONS: Taller adult height was significantly related to an increased risk of most cancers including neoplasm in the gallbladder or biliary tract and testes, but except for oesophagus
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