Fig. 1

Epidemiological and genetic associations of height with diseases. Legend: Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals per one standard deviation (SD) increase in height based on observed (epidemiology model) and genetically determined height (genetic model) are shown for a cardiovascular diseases (coronary artery disease (CAD), peripheral vascular disease (PVD), stroke, hypertension, aortic valve stenosis (AS), heart failure (HF), venous thromboembolism (VTE) and atrial fibrillation (AF)), b musculoskeletal diseases (osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, gout, sciatica, intervertebral disc disorder (IDD) and hip fracture), c digestive disorders (liver cirrhosis, peptic ulcer, diaphragmatic hernia, inguinal hernia, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), gallstones and appendicitis), d psychiatric and neurological disorders (dementia, epilepsy, anxiety disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis (MS)), e other non-neoplastic diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, diabetes, glaucoma, cataract, hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism and vasculitis), and f cancers and various sites. One SD is 9.2 cm; for men and women specific diseases, 1-SD corresponds to 6.8 cm and 6.2 cm, respectively. All epidemiological models were adjusted for age, sex, obesity (BMI ≥ 30), socio-economic status (Townsend deprivation index in highest quintile), Smoking status (ever smoker, exposed to environmental tobacco smoke, none), physical activity (vigorous exercise at least once a week or more) and other relevant disease-specific risk factors as described below: models for CAD—waist-hip-ratio, systolic blood pressure, use of insulin and family history of heart diseases; models for AF, VTE, PVD and heart failure—systolic blood pressure, use of insulin and family history of heart diseases; model for hypertension—use of insulin and family history of hypertension; model for stroke—waist-hip-ratio, systolic blood pressure, use of insulin and family history of stroke; model for COPD—family history of COPD; model for asthma—presence of hay fever or eczema; model for dementia—family history of dementia; depression—family history of depression; Parkinson’s disease—family history of Parkinson’s disease; model of glaucoma—systolic blood pressure and use of insulin; model for diabetes—waist-hip-ratio, systolic blood pressure and family history of diabetes; model of cataract—use of insulin; model for cancer overall—family history of lung/breast/prostate/bowel cancer; model for cancer of the breast—nulliparous, ever use of contraceptive pills, ever on hormone replacement therapy and family history of breast cancer; models for lung, prostate and colorectal cancers—family history of respective cancers. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 after Bonferroni correction for 50 tests