Bigger and taller baby girls have greater risk of breast cancer in adulthood, a study has suggested.

The research, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine, found that big or tall baby girls are more likely to develop breast cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women.

The researchers, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, examined the results of 32 studies involving more than 600,000 women.

"Our study indicates that birth size is a marker of susceptibility to breast cancer in adulthood, at least in developed countries," said Professor Isobel dos Santos Silva, who led the study.

"These findings provide strong evidence that birth size – in particular birth length – is a marker of a woman's breast cancer risk in adulthood, although the mechanisms underlying this association are unclear," Silva underlined.

According to the study, each extra pound at birth or 2cm increase in length enhances the risk of developing the killer disease in adulthood by 6 per cent.

Scientists believe that hormones which drive growth in the womb could alter the programming of the breast, making it more susceptible to the cancer. Big babies could also go through puberty early – another factor linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, the study suggested.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 465,000 women died of breast cancer globally in 2007, and 1.3 million new cases were diagnosed.

However, scientists have sought more research as the link between breast cancer and birth size appeared smaller when compared with other risk factors.