Yeshiva U. prof finds connection between tallness and cancer
Study by epidemiologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine finds that for every 10cm of height, risk of getting disease increases by 1.13
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Yeshiva University professor Geoffrey Kabat has found a relationship between height and the risk of getting cancer.
Kabat’s study, according to Discover Magazine, sought to assess the connection between tall women and a variety of cancers while taking into account variables like nutrition, stress, income, education and socioeconomic status.
“You really want to make very sure that you have excluded the possibility that any association you find between height and cancer is not due to the interference of some sort of other factor,” Kabat was quoted by the magazine as saying.
Using data from the 144,701 women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative study, which took place between 1993 and 1998 at 40 clinical sites around the US, the professor concluded that there was a significant link between height and cancer anywhere in the body. “For each additional 10 cm (3.94 inches) of height, a woman had a 1.13 times greater overall cancer risk,” Discover Magazine reported.
But Kabat has a no exact explanation as to why. “It’s hard to study because growth takes place in childhood and adolescence, and cancer takes place four decades later,” he was quoted as saying.
The findings should not cause undue worry in tall people, Kabat was cited as saying. Leading a healthy lifestyle — eating well, exercising, not smoking — has all been shown to decrease the risk of cancer, he said, which is a choice anyone can make, unlike willing oneself shorter.
The Times of Israel Community.