Height and drinking status in relation to risk of anemia in rural adult healthy Japanese men: the Nagasaki Islands study

Abstract

Background: Several studies have reported that height is inversely associated with risk of cardiovascular disease but positively associated with cancer risk. On the other hand, evidence has been accumulating that anemia reflects poor health and increased vulnerability to poor outcomes in older persons. Moreover, alcohol consumption has also been reported to be associated with mortality. However, no studies have reported on a possible association between height and risk of anemia in relation to drinking status.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1287 men aged 40–89 years undergoing general health check-ups.Results: Independent from classic cardiovascular risk factors, we found a significant inverse association between height and anemia for non-drinkers and a J-shaped association for drinkers. The multivariable odds ratio (ORs) of an increment of 1 SD (standard deviation) in height (6.68 cm) for anemia for non-drinkers was 0.59 (0.45–0.77). For drinkers, with the second quartile of height (Q2) as the reference group, the multivariable OR of anemia was 2.68(0.90–7.96) (p = 0.075) for the lowest height quartile (Q1), 2.73(0.92–8.08) for the third quartile (Q3) and 4.82(1.65–14.10) for the highest quartile (Q4) (p = 0.004).Conclusion: Height was found to be associated with anemia for rural Japanese men and drinking status is likely to affect those associations.