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Top 6 Health Issues Linked with Height

top 6 health issues linked with height
HWC Team
December17/ 2015

Height is related or linked to a number of health problems. How stature or height may influence health and medical conditions is still unclear but according to experts, the link between these issues and height provides a new hope for understanding certain puzzling diseases.  If you wish to know about the main health problems that may be linked to height, then you can go through the following given information. The following is a list of the top 6 health problems associated with height or stature.

1. Cancer

A new study suggests that taller women are more prone to suffer from ovarian cancer which is a disease that kills large number of women around the world each year.  For every 2 inch or 5 cm increase in height above the height of 5 feet 3 inches, the risk of ovarian cancer increases by a factor of 7 percent.  Infact taller women are more prone to about 10 different kinds of cancers. Even taller men are more susceptible to prostate cancer.

2. Heart Disease

Unlike cancer, heart diseases tend to affect shorter people more than taller individuals.  It has been found that shorter people are about 50% more at a risk of deadly heart diseases

3. Stroke

Serious strokes, just like heart diseases are more common among shorter people.  According to an Israeli study, with every 5 cm or 2 inch increase in height, the risk of stroke decreases by about 13%.  Height might indicate a strong factor of nutritional status. It can also be associated with environmental conditions in adolescence and childhood.

4. Diabetes

Diabetes is usually associated with weight but type 1 diabetes on the other hand is linked with height.  Taller children seem to have an increased risk of diabetes development. The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is still unknown but it is thought that it is usually caused from an autoimmune attack on the insulin producing cells present in the pancreas.

5. Alzheimer’s Disease

This disease is the most common cause of dementia in older people and the risk of it increases with family history and age. But the risk of this disease also increases for shorter people.  According to a study, men who were taller than 5 feet 10 inches have 59% lower risk of developing this disease than those who were shorter than 5 feet 6 inches. Even cardiovascular disease which is more common among shorter people was linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

6. Blood Clots

The risk of blood clots decreases with height. This means that people who are 5 feet 2 inches or shorter have a lower risk of blood clots.  According to a study, blood must be pumped to a longer distance in taller women which may result in a reduced flow and thus an increased risk of stroke causing blood clot.  While it is true that one cannot drop height but reducing or losing a few pounds may definitely help to decrease this risk.

HWC Team



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