Adult height and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study (JPHC)

Adult height is determined by both genetic characteristics and environmental factors in early life. Although previous studies have suggested that adult height is associated with risk of mortality, comprehensive associations between height and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the Japanese population are unclear. We aimed to evaluate the associations between adult height and all-cause and cause-specific mortality among Japanese men and women in a prospective cohort study. We investigated 107,794 participants (50,755 men and 57,039 women) aged 40 to 69 years who responded to the baseline questionnaire in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study. Participants were classified by quartile of adult height obtained from a self-reported questionnaire in men (<160cm, 160-163cm, 164-167cm, ≥168cm) and women (<149cm, 149-151cm, 152-155cm, ≥156cm). Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for mortality from all-cause, cancer, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, respiratory disease, and other cause mortality were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models. During follow-up, 12,320 men and 7,030 women died. Taller adult height was associated with decreased risk for mortality from cerebrovascular disease (HR (<160cm vs. ≥168cm) (95% CI) = 0.83 (0.69–0.99); HR (for 5-cm increment) (95% CI) = 0.95 (0.90–0.99)) and respiratory disease (HR (<160cm vs. ≥168cm) (95% CI) = 0.84 (0.69–1.03); HR (for 5-cm increment) (95% CI) = 0.92 (0.87–0.97)), but was also associated with increased risk for overall cancer mortality (HR (<160cm vs. ≥168cm) (95% CI) = 1.17 (1.07–1.28); HR (for 5-cm increment) (95% CI) = 1.04 (1.01–1.07)) in men. Taller adult height was also associated with decreased risk for mortality from cerebrovascular disease (HR (<149cm vs. ≥156cm) (95% CI) = 0.84 (0.66–1.05); HR (for 5-cm increment) (95% CI) = 0.92 (0.86–0.99)) in women. Our results confirmed that adult height is associated with cause-specific mortality in a Japanese population.