Leg length and risk of cancer in the Boyd Orr cohort

Abstract

Height is directly associated with mortality from cancer, 1 but the explanation for this association is unclear. Whereas adult height is a marker of nutrition and health throughout childhood, most growth before puberty is due to increases in leg length. Leg length can therefore be used as a marker for exposures that generate the association between adult height and cancer. 1 2 We examined the association between prepubertal leg length and mortality from cancer in the Boyd Orr cohort. 2 3