BROOMFIELD, COLO. -- Height appears to be an independent risk factor for suicide in men and women, Steven Stack, Ph.D., reported at the annual conference of the American Association of Suicidology.

Indeed, men under 5 feet 6 inches tall are 43% less likely to die from suicide. Similarly, tall women have a 62% greater rate of death from suicide compared with those of lesser height, said Dr. Stack of Wayne State University, Detroit.

The hypothesized mediator for this observed height/suicide relationship is serotonin. Several investigators have shown that height is inversely related to serotonin level. Furthermore, a metaanalysis by other investigators concluded that 20 of 24 studies showed lower cerebrospinal fluid serotonin levels in suicide attempters than in controls. Thus, height may be viewed as a biomarker for serotonin, Dr. Stack continued.

He reviewed psychological autopsy data for 15,456 adults aged 25 years or older who died in 1986. The information was gleaned from the National Mortality Followback Survey, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-sponsored study examining causes of death in a large representative sample of Americans.

The mean height of the nearly 8,500 men in the study was 69. …