Madrid
Updated:06/02/2022 20:00h
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Whether tall or short, a person’s height increases their risk of various diseases, according to a new study led by Sridharan Raghavan of the Rocky Mountain Veterans Regional Medical Center (EE.UU.).
Height has been a factor associated with many common diseases, ranging from diseases heart to cancer. But scientists have struggled to determine whether being tall or short is what puts you at risk, or whether factors that affect height, such as nutrition and socioeconomic status, are really to blame.
In the new study, the researchers set out to eliminate these confounders by separately examining the connections between various diseases and a person’s actual height, and the connections to their predicted height based on their genetics.
The team used data from the Million Veterans Program, which included genetic and health information from more than 200,000 adults white and over 50,000 black adults.
The results confirmed earlier findings that being tall is linked to an increased risk of atrial fibrillation and varicose veins, and a lower risk of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. The study also found new associations between greater height and increased risk of peripheral neuropathy, caused by nerve damage of the extremities, as well as infections of the skin and bones, such as ulcers of the legs and feet.
The new study looked at more than 1,000 conditions and general traits, making it the largest study of height and disease to date. The researchers conclude that height can be an unrecognized risk factor so far for several common conditions in adults. However, they state that further studies are needed to clarify some of these associations, and that future studies would benefit from the inclusion of a larger and more diverse international population.
Adds Raghavan: “Using genetic methods applied to the Veterans Administration’s Million Veterans Program, we found evidence that adult height can influence more than 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 risk factor for several common conditions in adults.”
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