Cancer is Greater Threat to the Tall

Research suggests that tall women have a greater risk of developing a wide range of cancers.

Written byJef Akst

| 1 min read

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Height can provide people with a lot of advantages, as evidenced by our species’ evolutionary path to bipedalism, but according to new research, tall women are also at a greater risk of cancer—for every 10cm (4 inches) in height, the risk increased by 16 percent.

The study, published yesterday (July 20) in The Lancet Oncology, analyzed results from previous studies in combination with data collected from 1.3 million middle-aged women in the United Kingdom, which included nearly 100,000 cases of cancer. Taller women were found to be at an increased risk of breast, ovary, womb, and bowel cancers, as well as leukaemia and malignant melanoma. The association—which has also been suggested in earlier work, though in fewer types of cancer—could help explain increases in the ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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