Tall women face higher ovarian cancer risk

TALL women are more likely to develop ovarian cancer than their shorter friends, research suggests.

Oxford University scientists reviewed 47 studies involving more than 100,000 women – many of them with ovarian cancer – and found a link with height.

Every two inches in height increased the odds of developing the disease by 7 per cent.

The researchers said tall women could simply have more cells that can become cancerous. Growth hormones may also play a role, the journal PLOS Medicine reports.

The study also found that the heavier and more obese a woman was, the greater her risk of ovarian cancer, but only if she had never been on HRT.

Dr Paul Pharoah, a Cambridge University cancer expert, said

‘Often has no symptoms’

while the analysis was valid, the impact on individual women would be small.

To illustrate his point, he compared a woman who is 5ft tall with one who is 5ft 6in.

The shorter woman will have a 1.6 per cent chance of developing ovarian cancer in her lifetime, the figure for the taller woman will be 2 per cent.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women, with more 6,500 cases diagnosed each year in the UK.

Two-thirds of these die from the disease, because it is often symptomless in its early stages and not spotted until it has started its poisonous spread around the body.

Age and not having had any children are known to increase the odds of the disease, while the contraceptive pill helps protect against its development.

Previous attempts to look at the role of height and weight have provided inconsistent results.