Human Height: Can It Tell If One is At High Risk of Having a Disease? Here's What Research Found

A group of researchers from Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center recently found evidence that a person's height affects his predisposition to certain diseases.

Over the years, scientists have investigated a person's height as a non-modifiable risk factor for certain diseases, a Medical News Today report said.

Previous research has shown a taller person may be at greater risk for diseases like Alzheimer's disease and heart disease, while a shorter individual is at higher risk of type 2 diabetes.

Nonetheless, much past research has been unclear if height was the main factor or if there are other factors like nutrition and environmental factors that may cause such diseases.

Height Linked to 'Many Aspects of Health'

In their study published in the PLOS Genetics journal, researchers identified certain conditions not previously associated with height, including peripheral neuropathy and leg and foot ulcers.

When asked why a taller person may be at a higher risk for certain diseases, assistant professor Dr. Sridharan Raghavan from the Rocky Mountain at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus explained it was not surprising to find fundamental processes such as growth and metabolism, which are associated with height, linked to "many aspects of health."

In certain circumstances, added the professor, associations observed may have to do with biological processes shared between growth or height and psychology.

In other situations, the link or mechanism will be because of the physical impacts of tall stature instead of a biological process, Raghavan elaborated.

Height as a Risk Factor

According to Raghavan, "the correlation between height and chronic lower extremity venous circulatory disorders" might be associated with physical distance and different pressure dynamics in the venous circulatory system affecting taller individuals.

Describing their research, the doctor said their findings are an initial step towards possibly including height in disease risk assessment in that they identify conditions for which height might be a risk factor.

Future research will need to evaluate if incorporating height into disease risk assessment can inform strategies to change modifiable risk factors for certain conditions.

In other words, this would be a form of customized care that integrates height into how risk factor modification or treatment is individualized.

A Point of Evidence for Future Research

This study does not directly address such a critical issue, although it hopefully offers a starting point of evidence for the future research., Dr. Raghavan explained.

Commenting on the issue, Dr. Medhat Mikhael, pain management specialist and medical director of the non-operative program at the Spine Health Center at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, said, even though height cannot be modified, the risk can be mitigated so one can get ahead of the game and prevent the disease so that peripheral neuropathy, which is described in a separate MNT report, does not develop.

He added, that knowing that this person is at a much higher risk helps detect it ahead so that a particular disease can be treated early, does not advance, and start developing complications. Some of these include ulcers and foot infections, among others.

Related information between height and the risk for certain diseases is shown on Medical Dialogues' YouTube video below:

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