Researchers in England have found evidence to suggest that tall men are at significantly greater risk of developing high-grade prostate cancer.
The researchers recruited a total of 1,357 men with prostate cancer and 8,343 controls in order to study the associations between prostate cancer, height, trunk length, and leg length. Overall, there was no significant association between risk of prostate cancer and height. However, for the 402 men in the study with high-grade, aggressive, prostate cancer – that is prostate cancer with a Gleason score of seven and over – every 10cm increase in height was found to increase the risk of developing cancer by a highly significant 23%.
The researchers then compared their results with that of 31 cohort studies. Results of this arm of the study revealed a 6% increase in risk of developing prostate cancer per 10cm increase in height.
They conclude that their findings indicate a “limited role for childhood environmental exposures –as indexed by adult height – on prostate cancer incidence, while suggesting a greater role for progression, through mechanisms requiring further investigation.”
Zuccolo L, Harris R, Gunnell D, Oliver S, Lane JA, Davis M, Donovan J, Neal D, Hamdy F, Beynon R, Savovic J, Martin RM. Height and Prostate Cancer Risk: A Large Nested Case-Control Study (ProtecT) and Meta-analysis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008;17:2325-2336.
