The researchers surveyed 2000 people in the UK and the US and the study showed that men above 6 feet in height are more likely to get infected. The findings do not mean that taller people are genetically more vulnerable to the infection, it shows that the virus could be airborne. 

Researchers chose 1000 people from the UK and 1000 people from the US. 399 people out of 2000 were over 6 feet tall. Women also had higher odds if they were over 6ft tall. But there were so few in the study, the results are not reliable. 

The study indicates that the virus spreads through tiny particles called aerosols that linger in the air after being exhaled. The study also establishes that if the virus was spreading through coughing or sneezing that produces large droplets, people who are more than 6 feet tall wouldn’t get infected because particles would drop on the ground quickly.  

The survey results were analysed by a team of data scientists in the UK, Norway and the US, led by experts at the University of Oxford. The study is yet to be scrutinised by fellow scientists.

Researchers looked at a range of personal and work-related factors as well. People who participated in the survey were asked about their employment status, income, how they travel to work, if they live with other people and if they socialised a lot to analyse the factors that may affect their risk of exposure to the virus.  

While the study explains that larger men working in construction may be at greater risk, the link between height and coronavirus was seen only in the UK.  

The World Health Organisation had previously said that the virus spreads primarily through the droplets expelled from the nose or mouth of an infected person while exhaling to speaking. Although, recently the WHO admitted that more and more evidence of the virus being airborne are emerging.  

Earlier, height has also been linked to diseases such as dementia and irregular heartbeat which could be due to genetic variants or growth hormones.