A new study shows that a person’s height makes them more likely to get a number of diseases, no matter how tall or short they are.
A person’s height, whether tall or short, increases their risk for a number of diseases, according to a new study led by Sridharan Raghavan of the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in the United States and published today in the journal PLOS Genetics.
Height has been linked to a variety of health problems, including heart disease and cancer. However, experts have been unable to tell whether being tall or short puts people at danger, or whether factors that impact height, such as nutrition and socioeconomic position, are to blame. New research aims to remove these confusing factors by looking at the relationship between various diseases and a person’s actual height, and the relationship between their expected height based on their genetics, independently. The researchers analyzed information from the VA Million Veteran Program, which includes genetic and health data from over 200,000 white and 50,000 black adults.
The findings provided more evidence that having a taller stature is associated with an increased likelihood of developing atrial fibrillation and varicose veins, but a decreased likelihood of developing coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. The research also discovered new links between increased height and an increased risk of peripheral neuropathy, which is caused by nerve damage in the extremities, as well as skin and bone diseases including leg and foot ulcers.
Overall, the new study looked at more than 1,000 diseases and traits. This makes it the largest study of height and disease to date. The researchers came to the conclusion that height may be a risk factor for several common conditions in adults that wasn’t known before. They do say, however, that additional research is needed to clarify some of these links, and that future studies might benefit from having a bigger, more diverse international sample.
Raghavan says, “Using genetic methods applied to the VA Million Veteran Program, we found evidence that adult height may impact over 100 clinical traits, including several conditions associated with poor outcomes and quality of life – peripheral neuropathy, lower extremity ulcers, and chronic venous insufficiency. We conclude that height may be an unrecognized non-modifiable risk factor for several common conditions in adults.”
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