Tall women more likely to get cancer, study finds

lago · July 2011

Well that explains it for me. I'm 3" taller than my mom (well more now because she shrunk ) and 5" taller than my sister and they are both cancer free. This makes perfect sense for skin cancer (more skin, more skin exposed to the sun but not sure how this makes a difference with breast cancer. Maybe we're bigger and therefore eat, drink, inhale more toxins?

Article link

My sarcasm link

EDIT: fixed sarcasm link

Anonymous · July 2011

I've heard this one before. I'm always amused at the definitions of people at risk. Almost none of them apply to me including this one - I'm 5 foot 5 inches tall.

CherrylH · July 2011

I heard part of this report on NPR this morning. I should have been safe at 5' 3", but was not.

GG27 · July 2011

I don't quite understand the percentages. I'm 5'10", so I have an 1190% higher chance of cancer??? huh??? I would like to be able to actually read the study. If anyone finds the study in it's entirety, that I don't have to join yet another website, I would love to see it.

LuvRVing · July 2011

I just want to know who pays for this junk science???

dreaming · July 2011

i AM 5.4, my mother was 6, free of cancer, what is to be tall? For a Japanese, some places of Africa and other countries, being tall is relative.

A person might be tall in a country and short in other. I wonder how much money was spent in a study, where people do not have a choice of how tall they are.

mrsnjband · July 2011

I'm only 5' 4" so I wonder how short do you have to be.....

lago, did you remove your sarcasm response. I was looking forward to reading it. Wink

NJ

cp418 · July 2011

Ditto with the junk science! I'm 5'2".

Houndmommy · July 2011

Wow, I've been trying to figure out why I got BC and now I know - I am 5' 11". Who would have thought it would be something as simple as my height, lol.

kira1234 · July 2011

I think I heard today anyone over 5' is at risk. Wink

Anonymous · July 2011

I would go with that anyone over 5' being at risk one. I am barely 5'3" these days and my friend Lee is about 5'4" so we would have messed those stats up.

Anonymous · July 2011

Oh great. Now they are going to recommend preventative leg amputations to reduce risk. Wink

RetiredLibby · July 2011

I'm 6'1" -- no WONDER I had a recurrence this year! I must have gotten two women's worth of breast cancer!

L

Member_of_the_Club · July 2011

I'm 5'2", thank God I'm too short to get cancer. Oh, wait . . .

Robinsegg · July 2011

Then wouldn't women in short stature cultures get less breast cancer ?

In Mexico most of the women appear to be under five feet and there is a pretty high rate of breast cancer.

YramAL · July 2011

Yet another risk factor I didn't have....I'm 5'2". I also breast fed both of my children until they were 2 years old, and I had my children before 30. I don't drink and I don't have any family history.

I guess I should go out and buy a lottery ticket.

Mary

EileenKaye1 · July 2011

I am 5'4"--my mother was 5'10--aunts all over 5'8"--shortest cousin is 5'8"-grandmothers were both tall.

I am the only one is my family ever to have any type of cancer.

SusanGardens--quite a terrific sense of humor.

I suppose--I throw off the statistics for this study.

Eileen

Robinsegg · July 2011

I'm the shortest in my family too and the only one that got cancer. It seems mostly we shorties are posting to this thread with a few tallies.

lago · July 2011

Sorry about the link. I was out all day. All fixed now.

BTW I'm 5' 6" that's above average but with heels I must be around 5'8" or 5'9". Does that count too? Wink

LuvRVing · July 2011

I'm 5'2" also.

geebung · July 2011

I'm 5'7". Had DCIS, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and currently hoping that the mole I had cut off last week wasn't a melanoma. Must be my height causing all this... Undecided

sewingnut · July 2011

I'm 5'8" so THAT explains it all.....

otter · July 2011

Re: "BTW I'm 5' 6" that's above average but with heels I must be around 5'8" or 5'9". Does that count too?"

Well, if that counts, then we've discovered a new way to reduce the risk of cancer: wear flats or go barefoot.

Does anyone have the citation for the original paper? (I should look at the link in the O.P., I know...)

otter

Bren-2007 · July 2011

Guess I had my heels on the day I was diagnosed!

Bren

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-heb-cancer-tall-women-20110721,0,315051.story

Here's the link Otter.

pip57 · July 2011

Just crazy. Crazy.

FireKracker · July 2011

i read that study...such bull...my mom was 4/11 she got ovarian cancer...im now 5 ft.was 5/2 but with age i shrunk ha....they spent soooo much money on that study....if they only put all the $$$$$$ on finding the cure or a vacine we would be in much better shape....this bc sure does suk.

suzanneinphoenix · July 2011

hmmm, I'm 5'1" at best.......skin cancer twice.....SCC lip and BCC shin, and of course IDC.....hmmmmm I guess I don't fit the profile.

mscal02 · July 2011

I am 6ft. That explains my bc.

lago · July 2011

suzanneinphoenix you must have been tall in your last life.

Anonymous · July 2011

I think you are on to something otter. I noticed that when I was diagnosed I had my heals on. During surgery I was without shoes and shorter. Now my tumor is gone. Was it the surgery, or the decrease in height? I don't think we'll ever know.

anonymice · July 2011

Sure, we've known for years that high heels cause cancer! But they're just so *cute*! Tongue out

I'm five foot five and a half...tall enough to get cancer but short enough to be cured. Laughing

Tall women more likely to get cancer, study finds

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