A person’s height could be a hidden risk factor for both a dangerous heart condition and a painful uterine disease, a major new study suggests.
Researchers in Taiwan analyzed genetic data from more than 120,000 people in the largest study of its kind in East Asian populations. They identified nearly 300 genes linked to height, then examined how those same genes overlapped with those associated with diseases.
What they found could change how doctors approach genetic screening. The researchers identified overlap with atrial fibrillation (AF), a heart rhythm disorder that causes the upper chambers of the heart to beat chaotically and irregularly, and affects at least 10.5 million adults in the US. It significantly raises the risk of stroke.
People with a predisposition to being tall, though the researchers did not offer a solid measurement considered ‘tall’, had a roughly 30 percent higher chance of developing AF, likely because taller people typically have larger left atria — the upper chambers of the heart — and a larger atrium is a known risk factor for irregular heartbeats.
The study also uncovered a link between tallness and endometriosis, a chronic condition affecting roughly 11 million American women, where uterine tissue grows outside the uterus, causing severe pelvic pain and infertility.
Women with a higher genetic predisposition to tallness showed an increased risk of the disease. When scientists dug deeper, they found that height itself wasn’t the direct cause.
Instead, the risk was driven by two factors genetically linked to height: earlier age at first menstruation and higher body weight. Both are known risk factors for endometriosis.
Beyond the disease links, the study identified 16 entirely new height-related genes, including several involved in skeletal development and cartilage formation, offering fresh insights into the biology of human growth.
Women whose genes predispose them to being tall had about a 7 percent higher likelihood of developing endometriosis (stock)
To uncover the genetic links between height and disease, researchers used a technique called a genome-wide association study (GWAS), which involves scanning the DNA of more than 120,000 Han Taiwanese adults to pinpoint exactly which genetic variants influence how tall a person grows.
They identified 293 distinct locations in the genome associated with height, along with five specific genetic regions linked to familial short stature, a condition where a person’s final height falls below the third percentile.
In the US, the average height for adult men is approximately five feet nine inches (about 175 cm), while for women, it is around five feet four inches (about 162 cm).
Medical professionals typically define ‘tall’ statistically. A person is considered tall if their height falls at or above the 95th percentile for their age and sex, meaning they are taller than 95 percent of their peers.
For adult women, this 95th percentile threshold is around five feet nine inches (175 cm), while for men, it is approximately six feet two inches (188 cm).
The researchers then wanted to know whether those same genes also influenced disease risk.
They analyzed data from five major East Asian biobanks encompassing nearly 1.3 million people across Taiwan, Japan, Korea and China to see whether height-related genes overlapped with those linked to conditions like atrial fibrillation and endometriosis.
To determine whether height actually causes disease or whether something else, like shared genetics or lifestyle factors, explains the link, researchers used a technique called Mendelian randomization, a method that relies on the fact that genes are randomly assigned at birth and aren’t influenced by lifestyle, allowing scientists to test whether height itself directly drives disease risk.
Researchers split participants into three groups based on height-related genetic risk: lowest (bottom 20 percent), average (middle 20 percent) and highest (top 20 percent). Those in the highest risk group reached a 10 percent chance of developing atrial fibrillation at age 78, more than three years earlier than the lowest risk group, who didn’t hit that threshold until age 81.1
Because DNA is randomly assigned at conception and cannot be influenced by lifestyle factors, it allows researchers to test whether one trait has a genuine causal effect on another.
Finally, the researchers calculated polygenic risk scores for each participant — a single number that sums up the combined effect of thousands of height-associated genetic variants.
They then tracked these individuals over time, revealing that those with the highest genetic risk for tallness did not just have a greater chance of developing atrial fibrillation; they developed it years earlier than those with the lowest genetic risk.
Scientists scanned the DNA of more than 120,000 people. They reported in their study, published in the journal PLOS Genetics, finding 293 genetic regions linked to height, including 16 that had not been seen before.
In addition to height genes contributing to a 30 percent increased risk of AF, people who were genetically predisposed to be tall were also shown to be stricken with AF three years earlier than those with the lowest height predisposition.
Women with a genetic tendency toward tallness had a roughly seven percent risk of endometriosis caused by earlier periods and higher body weight, both linked to height genes and both known to raise endometriosis risk.
On the other hand, genes linked to being very short appeared to offer weak protection against endometriosis.
The researchers say their findings suggest that polygenic risk scores for height could one day be used to identify individuals at higher risk of certain diseases, enabling earlier monitoring and intervention.
However, they caution that more research is needed before such tests become part of routine medical care.
While the findings are specific to East Asians, researchers say they add to a growing body of evidence that height is more than just a cosmetic trait. It could also serve as an early warning system for potential health risks ahead.
