title: Height, height-related SNPs, and risk of non-melanoma skin cancer.
abstract: Adult height has been associated with risk of several site-specific cancers, including melanoma. However, less attention has been given to non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC).
  
  
  
  We prospectively examined the risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in relation to adult height in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS, n=117 863) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS, n=51 111). We also investigated the relationships between height-related genetic markers and risk of BCC and SCC in the genetic data sets of the NHS and HPFS (3898 BCC cases, and 8530 BCC controls; 527 SCC cases, and 8962 SCC controls).
  
  
  
  After controlling for potential confounding factors, the hazard ratios were 1.09 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.15) and 1.10 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.13) for the associations between every 10 cm increase in height and risk of SCC and BCC respectively. None of the 687 height-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was significantly associated with the risk of SCC or BCC, nor were the genetic scores combining independent height-related loci.
  
  
  
  Our data from two large cohorts provide further evidence that height is associated with an increased risk of NMSC. More studies on height-related genetic loci and early-life exposures may help clarify the underlying mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Yen-Chen Anne
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.|Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Immaculata
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De Vivo
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.|Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.|Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giovannucci
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Redwood City, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jean Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.|Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA.|Center for Pharmacoepidemiology, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Jiali
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001827:Body Height / Q000235:genetics*; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006281:Health Occupations; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*