World’s tallest woman dies in China at age 39

BEIJING - Associated Press

This file picture taken on May 18, 2002, shows Asia's tallest woman, China's Yao Defen at 2.3 meters (7.54 feet) thanking the doctors and nurses at the Sanjiu hospital in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, where she had been undergoing treatment to halt her growth. AFP photo

The world’s tallest woman has died in eastern China. She was 39.

Chinese state media say Yao Defen died on Nov. 11 at her home in China’s eastern province of Anhui.
 
Guinness World Records in January 2010 had certified her as the world’s tallest living woman at 7 feet and 7 inches (233.3 centimeters).
 
The Xin’an Evening News did not give the cause of death but said in a report that Yao suffered from gigantism, with a tumor on her pituitary gland disrupting her levels of growth hormone. A government official in her county who gave only his surname, Liu, confirmed Yao’s death.
 
The Xin’an newspaper said Yao was an avid basketball player when young, and that she was 6 feet and 7 inches (200 centimeters) tall by age 15.