July 21, 2011

expert reaction to study showing association between height and cancer in women

New research suggested a possible link between height and cancer risk in women.

Prof Karol Sikora, Medical Director of CancerPartnersUK, said:

“This is an interesting result that is well supported by the statistics in the report and by the sheer scale of the Million Women Study. There are weaknesses, such as the exclusion of men from the analysis – however in the absence of a ‘Million Men Study’, equivalent data is simply unavailable. Because breast cancer is by far the most common cancer in women, the results are dominated by a relationship between height and the incidence of breast cancer in particular. In the case of lung cancer, of course, the influence of smoking makes it difficult for the authors to describe any association with height.

“The most likely explanation, I believe, is that hormonal changes that are related to tallness in women may also be related to growth abnormalities especially in the breast that eventually lead to cancer. It is known that height and weight alters the levels of classical hormones as well as cellular messengers such as IGF1 (insulin-like growth factor 1). Dietary factors may also be important, especially in relation to the dramatic rise in the incidence of colorectal cancer in tall women.

“This interesting observation could eventually lead to new approaches to cancer prevention by providing a more accurate pinpointing of risk and so making prevention and screening messages much more specific.”

‘Height and cancer incidence in the Million Women Study: prospective cohort, and meta-analysis of prospective studies of height and total cancer risk’ by Jane Green et al., published online in The Lancet Oncology on Thursday 21 July 2011.