Abstract
Height is associated with mortality from many diseases, but it remains unclear whether the association is causal or due to confounding by social factors, genetic pleiotropy,(1) or existing ill-health. The authors investigated whether the association of height with mortality is causal by using a son's height as an instrumental variable (IV) for parents' height among the parents of a cohort of 1,036,963 Swedish men born between 1951 and 1980 who had their height measured at military conscription, aged around 18, between 1969 and 2001. In a two-sample IV analysis adjusting for son's age at examination and secular trends in height, as well as parental age, and socioeconomic position, the hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause paternal mortality per standard deviation (SD, 6.49cm) of height was 0.96 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.95, 0.96). The results of IV analyses of mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), respiratory disease, cancer, external causes and suicide were comparable to those obtained using son's height as a simple proxy for own height and to conventional analyses of own height in the present data and elsewhere, suggesting that such conventional analyses are not substantially confounded by existing ill-health.
References
Jul 20, 1988·Journal of the National Cancer Institute·D Albanes, M Winick
May 1, 1983·Annals of Human Biology·P J SolomonA Rissanen
Feb 1, 1995·Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health·D A LeonD Strachan
Oct 17, 1998·Pediatric Research·Z C LuoJ Karlberg
Mar 15, 2000·Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health·G Davey SmithV Hawthorne
Jun 29, 2000·American Journal of Epidemiology·P JousilahtiP Puska
Apr 12, 2002·American Journal of Epidemiology·Peter McCarronGeorge Davey Smith
May 1, 2002·International Journal of Epidemiology·David Gunnell
Aug 24, 2002·Epidemiologic Reviews·D GunnellJ M Holly
Jan 24, 2003·Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health·D GunnellG C M Watt
Apr 12, 2003·International Journal of Epidemiology·Karri SilventoinenEero Lahelma
Jul 16, 2003·Epidemiology·Anders EngelandAage Tverdal
Aug 26, 2003·American Journal of Epidemiology·Yun-Mi SongJoohon Sung
Jun 18, 2004·Heart·D A LawlorS Ebrahim
Feb 18, 2006·American Journal of Epidemiology·Karri SilventoinenUNKNOWN GenomEUtwin Project
Nov 23, 2006·European Journal of Epidemiology·G David BattyMartin J Shipley
Apr 25, 2007·International Journal of Cancer. Journal International Du Cancer·Ellen LundqvistMaria Feychting
May 1, 2007·Annals of Epidemiology·Duncan C ThomasJohn R Thompson
Jul 29, 2008·American Journal of Epidemiology·Yun-Mi Song, Joohon Sung
Mar 10, 2009·International Journal of Epidemiology·Crystal Man Ying LeeUNKNOWN Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration
Nov 6, 2009·Annals of Oncology : Official Journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology·G D BattyUNKNOWN Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration
Dec 24, 2009·BMJ : British Medical Journal·George Davey SmithFinn Rasmussen
May 15, 2010·Economics and Human Biology·Daniel Koch
Jun 10, 2010·European Heart Journal·Tuula A PaajanenPekka J Karhunen
Jul 26, 2011·The Lancet Oncology·Jane GreenUNKNOWN Million Women Study collaborators
Citations
Dec 17, 2014·Health Services & Outcomes Research Methodology·Todd A MacKenzieA James O'Malley
Mar 2, 2016·Nutrition Reviews·Jessica M PerkinsEmre Özaltin
Sep 28, 2014·Early Human Development·Rebecca C RichmondCaroline L Relton
Jul 23, 2015·Scientific Reports·Kaitlin H WadePål Romundstad
Aug 10, 2019·PLoS Medicine·Kaitlin H WadeRichard M Martin
Jun 22, 2019·Scientific Reports·David CarslakeGeorge Davey Smith