Association between height and the risk of primary brain malignancy in adults: a nationwide population-based cohort study

Abstract

Purpose The association between height and the risk of developing primary brain malignancy remains unclear. We evaluated the association between height and risk of primary brain malignancy based on a nationwide population-based database of Koreans. Methods Using data from the Korean National Health Insurance System cohort, 6,833,744 people over 20 years of age that underwent regular national health examination were followed from January 2009 until the end of 2017. We documented 4,771 cases of primary brain malignancy based on an ICD-10 code of C71 during the median follow-up period of 7.30 years and 49,877,983 person-years. Results When dividing the population into quartiles of height for each age group and sex, people within the highest height quartile had a significantly higher risk of brain malignancy, compared to those within the lowest height quartile (HR 1.21 CI 1.18–1.32) after adjusting for potential confounders. We also found that the risk of primary brain malignancy increased in proportion with the quartile increase in height. After analyzing subgroups based on older age (≥ 65) and sex, we found positive relationships between height and primary brain malignancy in all subgroups. Conclusions This study is the first to suggest that height is associated with increased risk of primary brain malignancy in the East-Asian population. Further prospective and larger studies with precise designs are needed to validate our findings.

Epidemiological characteristics and genetic alterations in adult diffuse glioma in East Asian populations

“…Although glioma-associated factors have been well summarized in Whites 88 , factors specific to East Asians have not been well addressed. It was reported that smoking and height might be associated with glioma onset in Korean studies [89][90][91] , and the atomic bomb was reported to be associated with glioma risk by Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Japan 92 . However, whether these environmental or behavioral factors are associated with glioma exclusively in East Asians remained to be determined.…”

Is intracranial volume a risk factor for IDH-mutant low-grade glioma? A case–control study

“…Several other studies have found associations between body or organ size and risk of cancer, including lymphomas, leukemia, gastric cancer, testicular cancer, malignant melanoma, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer [ 12 ]. Indeed, a positive association between height, which is correlated to brain size [ 13 , 14 ], has been reported for risk of primary brain tumors in adults [ 15 – 17 ]. It is therefore not surprising that also ICV is associated with glioma risk, like we previously observed in high-grade gliomas [ 4 ].…”