Study Links Being Tall to Increased Risk of Certain Conditions

A large population study out of Colorado has found that being tall may be a previously unrecognized risk factor for several common conditions, particularly those affecting peripheral/distal extremities.

Height has been a factor associated with multiple common conditions, ranging from heart disease to cancer. But scientists have struggled to determine whether being tall or short is what puts them at risk, or if factors that affect height, like nutrition and socioeconomic status, are actually to blame. In the new study, researchers set out to remove these confounding factors by looking separately at connections between various diseases and a person's actual height, and connections to their predicted height based on their genetics.

The team used data from the VA Million Veteran Program, which included genetic and health information from more than 200,000 white adults and more than 50,000 Black adults. The results confirmed previous findings that being tall is linked to a higher risk of atrial fibrillation and varicose veins, and a lower risk of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

The study also uncovered new associations between greater height and a higher risk of peripheral neuropathy, which is caused by damage to nerves on the extremities, as well as skin and bone infections, such as leg and foot ulcers.

“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,” says Sridharan Raghavan of the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, who led the study.

Of approximately 350 traits associated with measured height, the study found 127 associated with genetically-predicted height in non-Hispanic White individuals. “While only 2 were also statistically significant in non-Hispanic Black individuals, we found evidence for consistent directions of effect for associations of traits with genetically-predicted height in non-Hispanic Black and White individuals,” according to the paper, published recently in PLOS Genetics.  “We conclude that height may be an unrecognized non-modifiable risk factor for several common conditions in adults.”

The new study looked at more than 1,000 conditions and traits overall, making it the largest study of height and disease to date. But the team says more studies are needed to clarify some of these associations, and that future studies would benefit from including a larger, more diverse international population.