ADULT HEIGHT AND INCIDENCE OF CANCER IN MALE PHYSICIANS (UNITED-STATES)

Adult height has been found in some but not all studies to be associat ed positively with overall cancer incidence as well as several site-sp ecific cancers. The Physicians' Health Study (PHS), a randomized trial of p-carotene and aspirin in the primary prevention of cancer and car diovascular disease in men, provided an opportunity to examine the ass ociation between height and total malignant neoplasms (excluding non-m elanoma skin cancer), as well as site-specific cancers including prost ate, colorectal, and lung cancer. The PHS is comprised of 22,071 US ma le physicians in the United States, a population homogeneous for adult socioeconomic status, aged 40 to 84 years in 1982. Participants were classified into five height categories at study entry. After an averag e follow-up of over 12 years, there were 2,566 cases of incident total malignant neoplasms, including 1,047 prostate, 341 colorectal, and 17 0 lung cancer cases. Height was associated positively with both total malignant neoplasms and prostate cancer. Compared with men in the shor test category (less than or equal to 67 inches), relative risks and 95 percent confidence intervals (CI) for total malignant neoplasms for m en whose height (in inches) was 68-69, 70-71, 72, and 73+ were, respec tively: 1.13 (CI = 0.99-1.28), 1.15 (CI = 1.02-1.30), 1.29 (CI = 1.12- 1.49), and 1.21 (CI = 1.05-1.39), P trend 0.001, adjusted for age, ran domized treatment assignments, body mass index (wt/ht(2)), cigarette s moking, alcohol use, and exercise frequency. For prostate cancer, the corresponding RR values were 1.23 (CI = 1.00-1.51), 1.26 (CI = 1.04-1. 54), 1.59 (CI = 1.27-1.98), and 1.26 (CI = 1.00-1.59), P trend 0.005. For colorectal cancer, in some but not all height categories compared with the shortest, there were elevated RRs without a significant linea r trend: RR = 1.51 (CI = 1.06-2.14), 1.14 (CI = 0.80-1.62), 1.19 (CI = 0.79-1.80), and 1.53 (CI = 1.04-2.25), P trend 0.23. In contrast, the re was no evidence of an association of height with lung cancer. These data indicate a positive association between height and risk of total malignant neoplasms, as well as of prostate cancer and, possibly, col orectal cancer.