Somayeh Nikkhah - Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Kerman Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran

Background and Aim : Prostate cancer is one of the most common threatening diseases in the world. Prostate cancer aetiology is poorly understood and may have origins early in life; Evidence on height and prostate cancer risk is mixed. In this study, the possible role for childhood height association with the risk of prostate cancer has been investigated.Methods : In this study, keywords including Male Childhood height and prostate cancer was searched in the following databases: ISI, Pub Med, Science direct and Google Scholar from 1990 to 2018 in which 21 papers were evaluated.Results : The studies show that child height and adult height may be associated with prostate cancer through different pathways, however, unknown whether childhood height exerts its effects independently of or through adult height. The association between childhood height and prostate cancer risk is driven by height at age 13 years. Taller height may be associated with greater risk. Men with height> 180 cm are at a 22% increased risk as compared to men with height <173 cm. Adult height is as a surrogate of childhood and adolescent hormone activity and diet. The genetic variants in the genes related to growth and biological pathways affecting adult height may also affect the risk of this cancer. Also childhood diet and growth potential/growth contribute to earlier pubertal timing and taller attained height in males, supporting roles of these factors in prostate cancer. Height is a marker of childhood environmental exposures, erhaps through the insulin-like growth factor system, is positively associated with prostate cancer risk, Leg length may be more strongly associated than trunk length with cancer risk.Conclusion : Childhood height is associated with the hard end-point of prostate cancer-specific mortality. The findings implicate childhood, and adulthood growth periods as containing the exposure windowes of interest that underlies the association between height and prostate cancer.

Childhood, height, prostate cancer