A research team from the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center has found evidence that a person’s height impacts their predisposition to certain diseases. Researchers identified some conditions not previously linked to height, including peripheral neuropathy and leg and foot ulcers.
Researchers examined genetics and height data from the VA Million Veteran Program database for the study led by Dr. Sridharan Raghavan. Their data group included information from more than 200,000 white adults and more than 50,000 Black adults.
“Prior studies had used a method similar to the one we used - examining associations with genetically predicted height - and found interesting associations with cardiovascular conditions and with socioeconomic status,” Dr. Raghavan said.
“Since we had genetic data linked to clinical data in the VA Million Veteran Program and our understanding of the genetic predictors of height had expanded since those prior studies, we thought it was an opportunity to look for disease associations across a broader scope of conditions,” he explained.
Researchers examined over 1,000 conditions and traits and found that adult height was associated with more than 100 clinical traits, including several medical conditions.
For example, researchers observed a connection between taller height and an increased risk of developing leg and foot ulcers, peripheral neuropathy, and venous circulatory disorders.
Why does height matter?
When asked why a taller person may be at a greater risk for certain diseases, Dr. Raghavan explained it was not surprising to see fundamental processes like growth and metabolism - which are related to height - connected to many aspects of health.
“In some cases, associations that we observed may have to do with biological processes shared between growth/height and physiology,” he added. “In other cases, the connection/mechanism will be due to physical effects of tall stature rather than a biological process.”
Dr. Raghavan said the correlation between height and chronic lower extremity venous circulatory disorders might be related to physical distance and different pressure dynamics in the venous circulatory system that impacts taller individuals.
