{"title":"The association between body height and longevity: evidence from a national population sample.","authors":"Piotr Paweł Chmielewski","doi":"10.5603/FM.a2023.0005","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>A wealth of research suggests that taller individuals are healthier and live longer than their shorter counterparts, although conflicting results have been reported. This study aims to investigate whether taller individuals in Poland exhibit greater longevity compared to their shorter counterparts.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>Data on declared height were collected from 848,860 adults who died in the years 2004-2008 in Poland. To eliminate the cohort effects, Z-values were computed. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated independently for males and females. Subsequently, one way ANOVA was performed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The correlation between adult height and longevity was negative and statistically significant in both men and women. After eliminating the effects of secular trends in height, the correlation was very weak (r = -0.0044 in men and r = -0.0038 in women) but significant (p = 0.023 and p = 0.022, respectively).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Despite the significant correlation observed between the two variables, it should be noted that the relationship between height and longevity is very weak and tenuous. Overall, these results do not support the hypothesis that taller individuals have a longevity advantage. Further research is warranted to identify the underlying biological mechanisms driving this phenomenon as well as to explore additional variables affecting human longevity.</p>","PeriodicalId":12251,"journal":{"name":"Folia morphologica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Folia morphologica","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5603/FM.a2023.0005","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/1/27 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ANATOMY & MORPHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: A wealth of research suggests that taller individuals are healthier and live longer than their shorter counterparts, although conflicting results have been reported. This study aims to investigate whether taller individuals in Poland exhibit greater longevity compared to their shorter counterparts.
Materials and methods: Data on declared height were collected from 848,860 adults who died in the years 2004-2008 in Poland. To eliminate the cohort effects, Z-values were computed. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated independently for males and females. Subsequently, one way ANOVA was performed.
Results: The correlation between adult height and longevity was negative and statistically significant in both men and women. After eliminating the effects of secular trends in height, the correlation was very weak (r = -0.0044 in men and r = -0.0038 in women) but significant (p = 0.023 and p = 0.022, respectively).
Conclusions: Despite the significant correlation observed between the two variables, it should be noted that the relationship between height and longevity is very weak and tenuous. Overall, these results do not support the hypothesis that taller individuals have a longevity advantage. Further research is warranted to identify the underlying biological mechanisms driving this phenomenon as well as to explore additional variables affecting human longevity.
迄今为止,许多研究报告都指出,身材高大的人更健康、更长寿。然而,成人身材与长寿之间的关系却存在着相互矛盾的结论。本研究调查了波兰身材高大的成年人是否比身材矮小的成年人更长寿。2004-2008年期间,波兰有848,860名死亡者申报了身高数据。为了考虑队列效应,我们生成了 Z 值。分别计算了男女的皮尔逊相关系数。随后进行了单因素方差分析。男性和女性的成年身高与寿命之间呈负相关,且在统计学上有显著意义。在剔除身高世俗趋势的影响后,相关性非常弱(男性 r = -0.0044,女性 r = -0.0038),但具有显著性(分别为 p = 0.023 和 p = 0.022)。总的来说,这些发现并不能证实高个子具有长寿优势的假设。由于身材高大对高龄老人(85 岁以上)的寿命有可预见的影响,这些结果有力地表明,身材矮小的人更长寿。我们对这些发现进行了讨论,试图找出可能导致身材矮小者更长寿的生物机制。我们还分析了与身高和寿命有关的一些人类学因素。
期刊介绍:
"Folia Morphologica" is an official journal of the Polish Anatomical Society (a Constituent Member of European Federation for Experimental Morphology - EFEM). It contains original articles and reviews on morphology in the broadest sense (descriptive, experimental, and methodological). Papers dealing with practical application of morphological research to clinical problems may also be considered. Full-length papers as well as short research notes can be submitted. Descriptive papers dealing with non-mammals, cannot be accepted for publication with some exception.