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Meta-Analysis
. 2014 Nov;205(5):348-54.
doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.113.142984.

Height in relation to dementia death: individual participant meta-analysis of 18 UK prospective cohort studies

Tom C Russ  1 , Mika Kivimäki  1 , John M Starr  1 , Emmanuel Stamatakis  1 , G David Batty  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Height in relation to dementia death: individual participant meta-analysis of 18 UK prospective cohort studies

Tom C Russ et al. Br J Psychiatry. 2014 Nov.

Abstract

Background: That risk factors measured in middle age may not fully explain future dementia risk implicates exposures acting earlier in life. Height may capture early-life illness, adversity, nutrition and psychosocial stress.

Aims: To investigate the little-explored association between height and dementia death. Method Individual participant meta-analysis using 18 prospective general population cohort studies with identical methodologies (1994-2008; n = 181 800).

Results: Mean follow-up of 9.8 years gave rise to 426 and 667 dementia deaths in men and women respectively. The mean heights were 174.4 cm (s.d. = 7.3) for men and 161.0 cm (s.d. = 6.8) for women. In analyses taking into account multiple covariates, increasing height was related to lower rates of death from dementia in a dose-response pattern (P ⩽ 0.01 for trend). There was evidence of a differential effect by gender (P = 0.016 for interaction). Thus, the association observed in men (hazard ratio per s.d. decrease in height 1.24, 95% CI 1.11-1.39) was markedly stronger than that apparent in women (HR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.03-1.24).

Conclusions: Early-life circumstances, indexed by adult height, may influence later dementia risk.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interest

None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of participants from initial pooled sample through to analytic sample showing subsequent mortality.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Number of participants, total mortality and deaths from dementia categorised by year. Also shown are age- and gender-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of dementia death per standard deviation lower height according to survey year for (a) men and (b) women: individual participant meta-analysis of 18 cohort studies from the Health Survey for England (HSE) and the Scottish Health Survey (SHS).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Secular trend (with 95% confidence interval) in height according to birth year: 18 cohort studies from the Health Survey for England and Scottish Health Survey.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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