Jealous of your long-legged peers? Turns out they may not have won the gene pool after all.
还在羡慕闺蜜秀美的长腿？新的研究表明长腿美眉们在这场基因战争中似乎并不是赢家。
New research published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention found a surprising correlation between height and cancer risk among postmenopausal women; the taller the woman, the greater her risk for the disease.
最新刊登在《肿瘤流行病学，生物标记与预防》杂志上的一项研究发现，在绝经后的女性群体中，身高与患肿瘤的风险存在着令人惊讶的相关性，具体来说，身高越高，女性患肿瘤的风险越大。
The researchers studied more than 20,900 women ages 50 to 79 who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study, an on-going analysis of post menopausal women and the factors that contribute to their health. They separated the women into five groups based on their height, starting with women shorter than 5 feet 1 inch, and matched them to data on their cancer rates.
这项研究为妇女健康倡议（WHI）的一部分，共有20900名50至79岁的女性参加了这项研究。妇女健康倡议由美国国家健康研究所发起，旨在分析绝经后女性和影响这些女性健康的因素。研究者将所有女性按身高分成五组，最矮的一组身高低于5英尺1英寸（约155cm），并按组对比他们患癌症的比例。
They discovered that for every 10 centimeters of height, a woman’s risk of developing a range of different cancers increased by 13%. When they looked at all the cancers together, they found that taller women had a 13% to 17% greater risk of developing melanoma, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer and colon cancer. They also had a 23% to 29% greater risk of developing kidney, rectum, thyroid and blood cancers. All of the cancers showed a positive association with height; none of the taller women showed a lower risk of cancer compared to their shorter counterparts.
结果他们发现，测试组身高增加10cm，女性患各种肿瘤的几率就增加13%。从患癌人群分析，研究者发现身材高的女性患黑素瘤、乳腺癌、卵巢癌、子宫内膜癌、结肠癌的几率要高出13%-17%。另外他们还发现，身材高的女性肾脏，直肠，甲状腺，和血液患肿瘤的风险要比身高矮的女性高23%-29%。所有种类的肿瘤都与身高成正比；没有任何一个高个女性比矮个女性患癌几率低。
While the connection seems odd, previous studies have exposed the same association; it’s possible, for example, that on the most basic level, the greater number of cells and tissues that taller people possess simply increases the odds that some of those cells will develop abnormally and become malignant. Alternatively, some of the same processes that fuel the growth that contributes to height may also feed tumors.
尽管这种联系看似奇怪，但是之前已经有类似的研究表明了相似的关联性：有可能是，在细胞层面上，由于身高高的人体内的细胞数和组织数也会比矮个多，因此高个体内细胞发育异常甚至变成恶性肿瘤的概率也会增高。此外，使身高增长而需要的细胞分裂和组织增长也会增加人患肿瘤的几率。
“Ultimately, cancer is a result of processes having to do with growth, so it makes sense that hormones or other growth factors that influence height may also influence cancer risk, said Geoffrey Kabat, a senior epidemiologist in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in a statement.
最终，肿瘤是人体生长过程造成的结果，因此影响身高的激素或其他因素也会影响人患癌的概率这一说法是讲得通的。耶斯希瓦大学阿尔伯特•爱因斯坦医学院流行病学与大众健康系高级流行病学专家杰弗里•卡巴特在一份声明中说。
Some of those common factors may be genetic, while others could be linked to environmental exposures or nutrition early in life. As the authors write:
这其中有些因素可能是基因层面的，而还有一些可能与患者年轻时候所处的环境和摄入的营养有关。这篇文章的作者写道：
Adult height is determined both by genetics and by early life exposures, and environmental circumstances influence the attainment of one’s genetic potential. The influence of environmental exposures on height is evidenced by the secular increase in the height of populations in many countries beginning in the 19th century, probably reflecting improvements in hygiene and nutrition. Height should thus be thought of as a marker for one or more exposures that influence cancer risk rather than a risk factor itself.
成年人的身高由基因和早期生活环境决定，而环境因素会影响人基因决定的遗传潜能。关于环境对影响身高的证据明显，19世纪初以来，很多国家人口的平均身高都在增高，这些似乎都是卫生和营养条件改善的反映。因此，身高应该被当作影响癌症患病率的一个或多个环境变因的标记，而不是作为癌症风险因素之一。
Women raised in higher socioeconomic households, for example, tended to be taller than those raised in lower income settings, reflecting the fact that different nutritional exposures may have played a role in both their height and cancer risk. Height may simply be a marker for factors such as nutrition, and identifying them may yield new understanding of about how to prevent and treat tumors more effectively, “[The association between height and cancer] raises some interesting biological questions, and investigators can come up with [new] explanations,” says the study’s senior author, Dr. Thomas Rohan, the chair and professor of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
比如，生长在社会经济条件较好的家庭中的女性，会比低收入家庭的女性身材要高，表明营养条件扮演着影响身高和癌症风险的角色。身高也许仅仅是营养条件的标记，发现这点或许可以改进我们对肿瘤的理解以及有效及预防和治疗肿瘤的方法。“身高和癌症的关系提出了一些有趣的生物学问题，研究者们也可以提出很多新的解释”，这项研究的主导者、阿尔伯特•爱因斯坦医学院流行病学与大众健康系教授兼主任托马斯•罗翰博士说。
In the meantime, Rohan and his colleagues say the study doesn’t imply that cancer is inevitable for every tall woman. The study found an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship. And it’s unlikely that diseases as complex as cancer can be traced to just one developmental process such as growth.
同时，罗翰和他的同事表示该项研究并不意味着身高的女性必然患肿瘤。这项研究只是发现了身高与癌症之间的联系，并不是说这两者之间存在因果关系。而生长这种发育过程也不可能是复杂的肿瘤的唯一原因。
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