Height and health - Euro-studies

Friday October 2nd, 2015

Infants who take asthma medications may suffer loss of height, researchers warned last night.

A Finnish study involving more than 12,000 children up to the age of two found that those who used inhaled corticosteroids were "too short".

The findings were reported to the conference of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology in Barcelona, Spain.

Researcher Dr Antti Saari, from the Kuopio University Hospital, said: "Previously, the impact of corticosteroids on growth was looked at in older children and was thought to alter growth only temporarily.

"However, studies on inhaled corticosteroid use in infants are practically lacking and thus this has been questioned in the recent study.

"Our research shows a link between long-term treatment of inhaled corticosteroids during infancy and stunted growth at or after the age of 2 in otherwise healthy children."

Dr Saari added: "According to our research, we could only assess the impact of inhaled corticosteroids on growth in infancy until two to three years of age. The longitudinal impact of these medications is not clear and we would therefore like to investigate this further."

* A second study reported to the conference has found a link between height and cancer risk - and the tallest people face the greatest risk.

The Swedish researchers analysed the fate of more than five million people.

The study found that for every 10cm of height, women faced an 18% increased risk of cancer and men an 11% increase.

There were strong links between height and the risk of developing melanoma - and also, for women, with the risk of developing breast cancer.

Researcher Dr Emelie Benyi, of the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, said: "To our knowledge, this is the largest study performed on linkage between height and cancer including both women and men.

"Our studies show that taller individuals are more likely to develop cancer but it is unclear so far if they also have a higher risk of dying from cancer or have an increased mortality overall."

Abstract: Stunted growth after inhaled corticosteroid use during the first 24 months of life.

Abstract FC4.6: Positive association between height and cancer in the Swedish population

Tags: Allergies & Asthma | Cancer | Child Health | Europe | Pharmaceuticals

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