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, Göran Walldius, Randi Selmer, W. M. Monique Verschuren, H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, Gunnar Engström, Paul M. Ridker, Inger Njølstad, Hiroyasu Iso, Ingar Holme, Simona Giampaoli, Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe, J. Michael Gaziano, Eric 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 Marín Ibañez, Debbie A. Lawlor, Ralph B. D'Agostino, Beatriz Rodriguez, Edoardo Casiglia, Coen D.A. Stehouwer, Leon A. Simons, Paul J. Nietert, Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos, Cecilia Björkelund, Timo E. Strandberg, Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Dan G. Blazer, Tom W. Meade, Lennart Welin, Kurt Svärdsudd, Mark Woodward, Aulikki Nissinen, Daan Kromhout, Torben Jørgensen, 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 Sundström, Patrik Wennberg, Yutaka Kiyohara, Makoto Daimon, Agustin Gómez de la Cámara, Jackie A. Cooper, Altan Onat, Richard Devereux, Kenneth J. Mukamal, Rachel Dankner, Matthew W. Knuiman, Carlos J. Crespo, Ron T. Gansevoort, Uri Goldbourt, Børge 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, Lara M. Simpson, Ingmar Jungner, Ellen W. Demerath, Nora Franceschini, Pamela L. Lutsey, Christos Pitsavos, Christina Chrysohoou, Christodoulos Stefanadis, Robert Atkins, Paul Z. Zimmet, Elizabeth L.M. Barr, S. Goya Wannamethee, Richard W. Morris, Johann Willeit, Siegfried Weger, Friedrich Oberhollenzer, Shah Ebrahim, John W.G. Yarnell, Valérie Tikhonoff, Christina M. Shay, Daniel B. Garside, Susan E. Sutherland, David L. Bachman, Julian E. Keil, Jorge R. Kizer, Bruce M. Psaty, Anne Tybjærg-Hansen, Gorm B. Jensen, Peter Schnohr, Luigi Palmieri, Salvatore Panico, Lorenza Pilotto, Diego Vanuzzo, Judith Simons, John McCallum, Yechiel Friedlander, Caroline L. Phillips, Frank J. Kohout, Joan C. Cornoni-Huntley, Nicholas J. Wareham, Ben Schöttker, Heiko Müller, Dietrich Rothenbacher, Jan Håkan Jansson, Chiara Donfrancesco, Erkki Vartiainen, Kennet Harald, Veikko Salomaa, Ramachandran S. Vasan, Caroline S. Fox, Michael J. Pencina, Toshihide Oizumi, Takamasa Kayama, Takeo Kato, Else Marie Bladbjerg, Lars Møller, Jørgen Jespersen, Angela Chetrit, Flora Lubin, Henry Eriksson, Georgios Lappas, Calle Bengtsson, Lauren Lissner, Dorothea Nagel, Tatu A. Miettinen, Hisatomi Arima, Yasufumi Doi, Toshiharu Ninomiya, Jacqueline M. Dekker, Giel Nijpels, Eric B. Rimm, Walter C. Willett, Kazumasa Yamagishi, Hiroyuki Noda, Sudhir Kurl, Tomi Pekka Tuomainen, Jan L. Poppelaars, Dorly J.H. Deeg, Bianca Lucia De Stavola, Bo Hedblad, Peter Nilsson, Anneke Blokstra, Steven J. Shea, Barbara Thorand, Wolfgang Koenig, Angela Döring, Dorothea Nitsch, Greg Grandits, Aage Tverdal, Wenche Nystad, Joann E. Manson, Susan E. Hankinson, Kenneth A. Bauer, Karina W. Davidson, Susan Kirkland, Daichi Shimbo, Shinichi Sato, Katsuyuki Miura, Masaru Sakurai, Xavier Jouven, Stephan J.L. Bakker, Pim van der Harst, Hans L. Hillege, Mario R. Garcia-Palmieri, Philippe Amouyel, Dominique Arveiler, Jean Ferrières, Helmut Schulte, Anton J.M. de Craen, Naveed Sattar, David J. Stott, Bernard Cantin, Benoît Lamarche, Jean Pierre Després, Jaclyn Bergstrom, Richele R. Bettencourt, Catherine Buisson, Thor Aspelund, Gunnar Sigurdsson, Bolli Thorsson, M. Arfan Ikram, Henning Tiemeier, Jacqueline C.M. Witteman, Roger Tavendale, Gordon D.O. Lowe, Jeun Liang Yeh, Tauqeer Ali, Darren Calhoun, Günay Can, Koshi Nakamura, Yuko Morikawa, Ellisiv B. Mathiesen, Maja Lisa Løchen, Tom Wilsgaard, Erik Ingelsson, Karl Michaëlsson, Tommy Cederholm, Julie Buring, Günter Diem, Hans Concin, Francesco Rodeghiero, Michael Marmot, Martin Shipley Mika Kivimaki, Michele Robertson, Edith Feskens, Johanna M. Geleijnse, Daan Kromhout, Matthew Walker, Sarah Watson, Myriam Alexander, Oscar H. Franco, Reeta Gobin, Philip Haycock, Stephen Kaptoge, Sreenivasa R.Kondapally Seshasai, Sarah Lewington, Lisa Pennells, Eleni Rapsomaniki, Nadeem Sarwar, Alexander Thompson, Simon G. Thompson, Ian R. White, Xiaohui Zhao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

159 Scopus citations

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. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1419-1433
Number of pages15
JournalInternational journal of epidemiology
Volume41
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cancer
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Cause-specific mortality
  • Epidemiological study
  • Height
  • Meta-analysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Epidemiology

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