Height affects the risk of cancer

Body size increases the risk of cancer

22.07.2011

British researchers have found a possible link between cancer risk and height. Body size increases the risk of cancer, say scientists around Jane Green of Oxford University in the latest issue of the journal „The Lancet Oncology“.

Based on the data of so-called „Million Women Study“, In the period between 1996 and 2001, around 1.3 million women in the UK were regularly medically examined and 97,000 cancers diagnosed, Oxford University researchers have established an association between the risk of cancer and the size of the study participants. The taller the woman, the higher her risk of cancer, Jane Green and colleagues report.

The height of the body has a significant influence on the risk of cancer
The correlation between height and risk of cancer has been demonstrated earlier, according to the British researchers, but significant social determinants have usually been disregarded, leaving them with doubts about the results. In the current investigation it is however with the help of the data from the „Million Women Study“ For the first time, it was possible to integrate the different lifestyles of women and their socioeconomic status, the researchers said. As part of their meta-analysis, the earlier findings on the interaction of body size and cancer risk have been confirmed, report Jane Green and colleagues in the journal „The Lancet Oncology“. The researchers emphasize that the „Association between height and cancer risk across very different populations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America“ was detected.

Cause of the relationship between body size and cancer risk unclear
The scientists around Jane Green are therefore of the opinion that the increased risk of cancer of the large humans is probably based on a mechanism that is associated with the growth phase of humans. However, it was not possible to explain how closely the relationship between body size and the apparent increased risk of cancer can be established. Influences of genetics, nutrition and hormone status could be important, experts say. In addition, the higher risk of cancer may be due to the higher number of body cells in large people. Because with the number of cells increase the probability of mutations, which in turn can cause cancer, so the statement of the scientists.

Per ten centimeters of height 16 percent increased cancer risk
As part of their meta-study, the British researchers also calculated to what extent the cancer risk increases with increasing body size. The result of Jane Green and colleagues: Every ten centimeters, which exceed 150 centimeters in height, increases the risk of cancer by 16 percent. For example, a 173-centimeter-sized woman is 37 percent more cancer-stricken than a mere 1.5-meter-tall woman, the researchers report. However, according to the scientists, the risk of different cancers increases with body size to a very variable degree. Thus, the researchers have the clearest connections in skin cancer, kidney cancer and leukemia (blood cancer) demonstrated. Skin cancer risk increases ten centimeters by 32 percent, kidney cancer risk by 29 percent and leukemia risk by 26 percent, Green and colleagues report. In addition, in the most common cancers of women, the breast cancer (breast cancer), the risk per ten centimeters of height increased by 17 percent. The British scientists hope that, based on the knowledge gained about the relationship between height and cancer risk in the future, new research will follow, which will help to explain the development of cancer. However, the current results do not allow any conclusions about possible preventive measures or therapies, because of course people can not change their height, admitted the British researchers from Oxford University. (Fp)

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Picture credits: Martina Taylor