Association between early-life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine and poor physical function later in life: a cross-sectional study

Tao, Tao; Dai, Lingyan; Ma, Jun; Li, Yusi; Guo, Zhuoyuan

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027450

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“… 14 A recent study showed that men exposed to the Great Chinese Famine presented considerably decreased physical function in their later life, but the association was only seen in the fetal exposed group. 15 This discrepancy could be explained by the fact that we used a composite score involving muscle strength and physical performance to assess sarcopenia, whereas the two previous studies used a single indicator. Scores derived from a single test are likely to be more unilateral than scores derived from composite tests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…A recent study showed that men who were exposed to the Great Chinese Famine during their fetal stage presented considerably decreased physical function in their later life, but the association was not observed in the other exposed groups. 15 However, the indicator in the previous publication was physical function, which although related to the status of muscle and bone, does not allow diagnosis even for PS. Thus, the question of whether malnutrition exposure during stages of early life would lead to the risk of sarcopenia in older age still remains unanswered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Association between early life exposure to the great famine and possible sarcopenia in older Chinese adults: a national cross-sectional study

Yan

Liu

et al. 2023

BMJ Open

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ObjectivesWe used data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to investigate how an early life famine exposure affected possible sarcopenia (PS) and to explore the extent to which a sex difference exists in the association among older Chinese adults, as well as whether risk factors modify the association.DesignCross-sectional study.Setting28 provinces of China.ParticipantsConsidering that the Great Chinese Famine lasted from the spring of 1959 to the fall of 1961, 3557 participants were selected and categorised into four subgroups based on their date of birth: unexposed group (1 October 1962 to 30 September 1964), fetal exposed group (1 October 1959 to 30 September 1961), infant exposed group (1 January 1958 to 31 December 1958) and preschool exposed group (1 January 1956 to 31 December 1957).Outcome measurePS was defined as having low muscle strength or low physical performance.MethodsWe used multivariable logistic models to analyse the association between early life famine exposure and the risk of PS in elderly life.ResultsThe prevalences of PS among individuals in the unexposed, fetal, infant and preschool exposed groups were 15.1%, 14.4%, 23.6% and 21.9%, respectively. Compared with the unexposed group, the infant (OR: 1.55; 95% CI 1.17 to 2.05) and preschool exposed (OR: 1.46; 95% CI 1.17 to 1.82) groups exhibited significantly higher risks of PS. In men, the infant (OR: 2.15; 95% CI 1.40 to 3.31) and preschool exposed (OR: 1.78; 95% CI 1.23 to 2.57) groups were more likely to have PS, but no significant increase was seen in women. In both sexes, prevalence of PS was unrelated to early life famine exposure in the urban, underweight and normal weight subgroups.ConclusionsEarly life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine was associated with a higher risk of PS in older adults. Keeping normal nutritional status in elderly life might help avoid the risk of PS, whatever the effect of early famine exposure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between early life exposure to the great famine and possible sarcopenia in older Chinese adults: a national cross-sectional study

Yan

Liu

et al. 2023

BMJ Open

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“…The childhood socioeconomic status questionnaire was prone to recall bias, which may potentially lead to underestimation of the association between variables. However, the questionnaire has been widely used in previous research (33,(66)(67)(68). Another limitation was that the food consumption score did not represent all food insecurity proxies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood socioeconomic status and adulthood dietary diversity among Indonesian adults

2022

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Food insecurity problems still exist among people in low-to-middle income countries. The long-term disadvantages of socioeconomic status may contribute to chronic food insecurity. However, whether childhood socioeconomic status factors are related to food insecurity in adulthood remains unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to test the association between childhood socioeconomic status factors and one of the proxies for adulthood food security, dietary diversity. This study used the 2014 RAND Indonesia Family Life Survey dataset with 22,559 adult participants as study samples. The childhood socioeconomic status factors consisted of 16 questions about the participants’ conditions when they were 12 years old. Adult dietary diversity was assessed using the United Nations World Food Programme’s food consumption score. A linear regression model was used to analyze the association between variables. This study found that the number of owned books (β coef.: 3.713–7.846, p < 0.001), the use of safe drinking-water sources (β coef.: 0.707–5.447, p < 0.001–0.009) and standard toilets (β coef.: 1.263–4.955, p < 0.001–0.002), parents with the habit of alcohol consumption (β coef.: 2.983, p = 0.044) or the combination with smoking habits (β coef.: 1.878, p < 0.001), self-employed with the permanent worker (β coef.: 2.904, p = 0.001), still married biological parents (β coef.: 1.379, p < 0.001), the number of rooms (β coef.: 0.968, p < 0.001), people (β coef.: 0.231, p < 0.001), and younger siblings (β coef.: 0.209–0.368, p < 0.001–0.039) in the same house were positively and significantly associated with the outcome variable. Furthermore, in the order of childhood socioeconomic status factors, self-employment without permanent workers and casual work types (β coef.: –9.661 to –2.094, p < 0.001–0.001), houses with electricity facilities (β coef.: –4.007, p < 0.001), and parents with smoking habits (β coef.: –0.578, p = 0.006) were negatively and significantly associated with the food security proxy. In conclusion, childhood and early socioeconomic disadvantage is related to adult food security status and may lead to poor health.

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“…The present paper shows that older people from two different countries, and particularly Brazilians, often rated their own health as “very good” or “good.” There are important differences between Brazil and Portugal, both in the prevalence of positive perceptions of one's own health and in its impact on mental and physical health. Results from comparisons between countries suggest a need for investing in improving one's health throughout life, because childhood living conditions can be considered distal determinants of independent performance of activities of daily living and of reduced burden of chronic diseases among older adults ( 111 , 112 ). Personality, expressed through the trait neuroticism, deserves special attention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Associated With Positive Self-Rated Health: Comparing Older Adults in Brazil and in Portugal

Cachioni

Cipolli

Borim

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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Introduction: Self-rated health is a multidimensional health indicator and a predictor of adverse events in old age. Answers to this assessment are influenced by social, cultural and personality factors.Aim: Exploring common and distinctive characteristics of Brazilian and Portuguese older adults aged 70 and over regarding positive self-rated health according to sociodemographic variables, to functional capacity, to independent performance of basic activities of daily living and to neuroticism, as well as analyzing associations between positive self-rated health and these variables.Methods: The present paper is a comparative and cross-sectional study based on secondary data contained in the databases of the FIBRA (Frailty in Brazilian Older Adults) follow-up study, with 418 Brazilian older adults, and of the DIA (From Disability to Activity: The Challenge of Aging) study, with 380 Portuguese older adults. Both samples had higher percentages of women: 68.4% for Portugal and 69.9% for Brazil. The Brazilian sample had a higher average age (80.31 ± 4.67) than the Portuguese sample (76.80 ± 5.28).Results: The Portuguese older adults had better overall cognition scores, higher handgrip strength and higher neuroticism values than the Brazilian older adults. In the simple and multiple logistic regression analyses, it was found that among Brazilian older adults, subjects with higher scores in the MMSE (OR 1.16; 95% CI 1.08–1.24), regardless of ADL performance (OR 2.13; 95% CI 1.31–3.47) and with scores 24–29 (OR 1.92; 95% CI 1.07–3.43) or 11–23 (OR 2.09; 95% CI 1.15–3.79) in neuroticism were more likely to assess their health as very good/good. On the other hand, the Portuguese older adults with intermediate 24–9 (OR 2.38; 95% CI 1.31–4.33) or low 11–23 (OR 5.31; 95% CI 2.69–10.45) scores in neuroticism were more likely to evaluate their health as very good/good.Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study and on the existing literature, it may be said that it is possible for people to age while keeping a positive perception of their own health, even in advanced old age; comparisons between the above-mentioned countries, however, point to the need for investments in healthcare systems so that older adults may enjoy greater physical independence and improved mental health.

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Association between early-life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine and poor physical function later in life: a cross-sectional study

Cited by 12 publications

References 34 publications

Association between early life exposure to the great famine and possible sarcopenia in older Chinese adults: a national cross-sectional study

Association between early life exposure to the great famine and possible sarcopenia in older Chinese adults: a national cross-sectional study

Childhood socioeconomic status and adulthood dietary diversity among Indonesian adults

Factors Associated With Positive Self-Rated Health: Comparing Older Adults in Brazil and in Portugal

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