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Adult height and the risk of cause-specific death and vascular morbidity in 1 million people: individual participant meta-analysis

Wormser, David ; Di Angelantonio, Emanuele ; Kaptoge, Stephen ; Wood, Angela M. ; Gao, Pei ; Sun, Qi ; Walldius, Goeran ; Selmer, Randi ; Verschuren, W. M. Monique and Bueno-de-Mesquita, H. Bas , et al. (2012) In International Journal of Epidemiology 41(5). p.1419-1433
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... (More)
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. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Height, cardiovascular disease, cancer, cause-specific mortality, epidemiological study, meta-analysis
in
International Journal of Epidemiology
volume
41
issue
5
pages
1419 - 1433
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • wos:000309922700028
  • scopus:84867619105
  • pmid:22825588
ISSN
1464-3685
DOI
10.1093/ije/dys086
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c904063f-f986-458d-bb19-71665dcaf093 (old id 3287657)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:14:31
date last changed
2022-04-20 00:08:59
@article{c904063f-f986-458d-bb19-71665dcaf093,
  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.}},
  author       = {{Wormser, David and Di Angelantonio, Emanuele and Kaptoge, Stephen and Wood, Angela M. and Gao, Pei and Sun, Qi and Walldius, Goeran and Selmer, Randi and Verschuren, W. M. Monique and Bueno-de-Mesquita, H. Bas and Engström, Gunnar and Ridker, Paul M. and Njolstad, Inger and Iso, Hiroyasu and Holme, Ingar and Giampaoli, Simona and Tunstall-Pedoe, Hugh and Gaziano, J. Michael and Brunner, Eric and Kee, Frank and Tosetto, Alberto and Meisinger, Christa and Brenner, Hermann and Ducimetiere, Pierre and Whincup, Peter H. and Tipping, Robert W. and Ford, Ian and Cremer, Peter and Hofman, Albert and Wilhelmsen, Lars and Clarke, Robert and de Boer, Ian H. and Jukema, J. Wouter and Ibanez, Alejandro Marin and Lawlor, Debbie A. and D'Agostino Sr, Ralph B. and Rodriguez, Beatriz and Casiglia, Edoardo and Stehouwer, Coen D. A. and Simons, Leon A. and Nietert, Paul J. and Barrett-Connor, Elizabeth and Panagiotakos, Demosthenes B. and Bjorkelund, Cecilia and Strandberg, Timo E. and Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia and Blazer, Dan G. and Meade, Tom W. and Welin, Lennart and Svardsudd, Kurt and Woodward, Mark and Nissinen, Aulikki and Kromhout, Daan and Jorgensen, Torben and Tilvis, Reijo S. and Guralnik, Jack M. and Rosengren, Annika and Taylor, James O. and Kiechl, Stefan and Dagenais, Gilles R. and Fowkes, F. Gerry R. and Wallace, Robert B. and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Shaffer, Jonathan A. and Visser, Marjolein and Kauhanen, Jussi and Salonen, Jukka T. and Gallacher, John and Ben-Shlomo, Yoav and Kitamura, Akihiko and Sundstrom, Johan and Wennberg, Patrik and Kiyohara, Yutaka and Daimon, Makoto and Gomez de la Camara, Agustin and Cooper, Jackie A. and Onat, Altan and Devereux, Richard and Mukamal, Kenneth J. and Dankner, Rachel and Knuiman, Matthew W. and Crespo, Carlos J. and Gansevoort, Ron T. and Goldbourt, Uri and Nordestgaard, Borge G. and Shaw, Jonathan E. and Mussolino, Michael and Nakagawa, Hidaeki and Fletcher, Astrid and Kuller, Lewis H. and Gillum, Richard F. and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Assmann, Gerd and Wald, Nicholas and Jousilahti, Pekka R. and Greenland, Philip and Trevisan, Maurizio and Ulmer, Hanno and Butterworth, Adam S. and Folsom, Aaron R. and Davey-Smith, George and Hu, Frank B. and Danesh, John}},
  issn         = {{1464-3685}},
  keywords     = {{Height; cardiovascular disease; cancer; cause-specific mortality; epidemiological study; meta-analysis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{1419--1433}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Epidemiology}},
  title        = {{Adult height and the risk of cause-specific death and vascular morbidity in 1 million people: individual participant meta-analysis}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ije/dys086}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/ije/dys086}},
  volume       = {{41}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}