Purpose: The aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to summarize the available evidence from prospective studies on the association between height and kidney cancer risk.
Methods: Relevant studies were identified through the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases up to July 2014, as well as through the references from the retrieved articles. Relative risks (RRs) from individual studies were pooled by using a random-effects model.
Results: A total of fourteen prospective studies of adult height and kidney cancer risk with 18,766 cases were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, per 10-cm increase in height was associated with an increased risk of kidney cancer (RR 1.23; 95 % confidence interval 1.18-1.28, I(2) = 11.8 %). Subgroup analysis showed a basically consistent result with the overall analysis. There was no evidence of publication bias.
Conclusions: High adult height was positively associated with the risk of kidney cancer in both men and women in this meta-analysis. Future prospective studies are needed to determine the generalizability of these findings to non-Caucasians.