NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Tall women are more likely than shorter women to develop melanoma, an analysis of past research on the deadly skin cancer demonstrates. Weight gain was also seen to be a risk factor.

It's not clear why height could contribute to risk of the disease, Dr. Catherine M. Olsen of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Herston, Australia and her colleagues note in the International Journal of Cancer; however, they point out, taller women are also at greater risk of colon and breast cancer.

Olsen and her team looked at eight past studies involving a total of 2,083 women with melanoma and 2,782 healthy controls to examine how body size might influence risk of the disease.

The tallest one-fourth of individuals in the study were 30 percent more likely to have melanoma than shorter women, the researchers found. In addition, putting on 2 kilograms or more in weight boosted melanoma risk by 50 percent. Risks associated with height and weight gain were strongest among women younger than 50.

There are a number of possible explanations for how height could influence skin cancer risk, Olsen and her team state. For example, height could be a marker for nutrition during childhood and adolescence, they suggest; some research in animals has found that consuming more calories during these periods of growth increases cancer risk. Height could also be related to hormones that may play a role in the development of cancer, they add, or it may even be that taller women tend to spend more time in the sun.

Weight gain could contribute to risk by affecting hormone metabolism, the researchers add.

Olsen and her colleagues call for studies of body size and melanoma in men to better understand how height and weight could contribute to the development of the disease.

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.