Researchers have found a link between esophageal cancer risk and height.
According to the researchers, taller people have a reduced risk of developing esophageal cancer.
"Individuals in the lowest quartile of height (under 5'7" for men and 5'2" for women) were roughly twice as likely as individuals in the highest quartile of height (taller than 6' for men and 5'5" for women) to have Barrett's esophagus or esophageal cancer," said lead researcher Aaron P. Thrift, PhD, from the Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA.
He explained that the association between height and esophageal cancer is opposite from many other cancers such as colorectal, prostate and breast.
Esophageal cancer rates increased eight-fold in the U.S. from 1973 to 2008.
For the study, researchers analysed the data from 14 population-based epidemiologic studies within the International Barrett's and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium, including 1,000 cases of esophageal cancer and twice as many cases of Barrett's esophagus, and 2,000 healthy adults.
Researchers took into account sex, age, education, smoking GERD symptoms or body mass index. The team found an inverse association between height and Barrett's esophagus or esophageal cancer.
"The identification of risk factors, such as height, will allow us to create more sophisticated and accurate methods to quantify patient risk, which will hopefully be used in the future to decide who should undergo endoscopic screening for these conditions," said Thrift.
The team did not find any explanation for the association between short height and Barrett's esophagus or esophageal cancer.
The findings are published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
