Why are men taller than women?: Genetic and hormonal factors involved in sex differences in human height

Maki Fukami¹, Tsutomu Ogata^{2

3}, Atsushi Hattori⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular Endocrinology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan. fukami-m@ncchd.go.jp.
² Department of Pediatrics, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Hamamatsu Medical Center, Hamamatsu, Japan.
⁴ Department of Molecular Endocrinology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.

Maki Fukami et al. J Hum Genet. 2025.

. 2025 Aug 14.

doi: 10.1038/s10038-025-01384-4. Online ahead of print.

Maki Fukami¹, Tsutomu Ogata^{2

3}, Atsushi Hattori⁴

¹ Department of Molecular Endocrinology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan. fukami-m@ncchd.go.jp.
² Department of Pediatrics, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Hamamatsu Medical Center, Hamamatsu, Japan.
⁴ Department of Molecular Endocrinology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.

No abstract available

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

1. Ogata T, Hattori A, Fukami M. SHOX and sex difference in height: a hypothesis. Endocr J. 2025;72:37–42. - PubMed
1. Naqvi S, Godfrey AK, Hughes JF, Goodheart ML, Mitchell RN, Page DC. Conservation, acquisition, and functional impact of sex-biased gene expression in mammals. Science. 2019;365:eaaw7317. - PubMed - PMC
1. Marchini A, Ogata T, Rappold GA. A track record on SHOX: from basic research to complex models and therapy. Endocr Rev. 2016;37:417–48. - PubMed - PMC
1. Balaton BP, Brown CJ. Escape artists of the X chromosome. Trends Genet. 2016;32:348–59. - PubMed
1. Tukiainen T, Villani AC, Yen A, Rivas MA, Marshall JL, Satija R, et al. Landscape of X chromosome inactivation across human tissues. Nature. 2017;550:244–8. - PubMed - PMC