New studies show the link between women's height and health problems. Shorter women are more at risk for heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease, while taller women are more at risk for cancer.

According to a study published in the Journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, taller women have a heightened risk for cancer, the No. 2 killer of women in America, ABC News reports. Taller women are more likely to develop cancers of the breasts, ovaries, kidneys, thyroid, endometrium, colon, and rectum.

However, shorter women are more likely to develop heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease, ABC News reports.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and kills 616,000 people per year, according to the CDC. Heart disease affects shorter people more than their taller counterparts. A 2010 review found that shorter people are 50 percent more likely to have deadly heart disease than tall people.

Similar findings showed that serious strokes are more common among shorter people.

"Height might represent a strong indicator of nutritional status, especially in a study such as ours, which included many subjects who had lived as persecuted minorities in their childhood," the authors of a 2002 Israeli study wrote. "It could also be associated with environmental conditions in childhood and adolescence."

The study linked each 5-centimeter (2-inch) decrease in height with a 13 percent increase in fatal stroke risk, ABC News reports. Men who were in the shortest quartile had a 54 percent higher risk of fatal stroke than men in the tallest quartile.

Alzheimer's disease affects 5.2 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer's Association. According to a 2007 study, the risk for the disease is higher for shorter people. The study, found men who were taller than 5 feet 10 inches had a 59 percent lower risk of developing the disease than men who were shorter than 5 feet 6 inches. The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.