Risk of metabolic syndrome in adults exposed to the great Chinese famine during the fetal life and early childhood

Abstract

Background/Objectives: To determine whether exposure to the Chinese famine during fetal life and early childhood was associated with a greater risk of metabolic syndrome in later life. Subjects/Methods: We used data of adults from the 2008 annual physical examinations in Public Health Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University in Chongqing. To minimize misclassification of the famine exposure periods, subjects born in 1959 and 1962 were excluded. Totally, 5040 participants were enrolled and categorized into control (1963)(1964), fetally exposed (1960)(1961) and postnatally exposed (1957)(1958) group. We adopted the definition of metabolic syndrome recommended by the Chinese Diabetes Society in 2004. Results: Women in fetally and postnatally exposed groups had significantly higher prevalences of metabolic syndrome than in control group (7.3% and 8.6% vs 4.0%, Po0.05, respectively). Women in fetally and postnatally exposed groups had a significantly higher risk of metabolic syndrome, as compared with control women (odds ratio (OR) 1.87 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-3.04, P ¼ 0.012), OR 1.50 (95% CI 1.20-1.87, P ¼ 0.0003), respectively). Similar association was not observed among men. The prevalences of metabolic syndrome among men in control, fetally and postnatally exposed groups were 20.1%, 22.5% and 18.8%, respectively, but there was no significant difference of prevalences among the three groups. Conclusions: We found that exposure to the Chinese famine in early life period was associated with higher risk of metabolic syndrome in adulthood of women, but not men. This gender difference might be due to the mortality selection and son preference hypothesis.

Effects and Interactions of Prenatal Ethanol Exposure, a Post-Weaning High-Fat Diet and Gender on Adult Hypercholesterolemia Occurrence in Offspring Rats

“…These results indicate that the hepatic cholesterol metabolism of female offspring may be easily affected by PEE. This finding is similar to the results of several epidemiological studies, with the most classic cases being those of the Netherland and Chinese famines [40, 41]. The intrauterine nutrition restriction caused by the famine involved in the studies was similar to PEE, and all of these adverse prenatal environments could lead to IUGR, with female more easily developing lipid accumulation and obesity.…”

“…The intrauterine nutrition restriction caused by the famine involved in the studies was similar to PEE, and all of these adverse prenatal environments could lead to IUGR, with female more easily developing lipid accumulation and obesity. Particularly, the survival of adult female with metabolic syndrome exposed to the Chinese famine in their early lives was significantly higher than that of adult males [40]. It is likely that an adverse intrauterine environment is better able to affect the neuroendocrine programming of lipid metabolic-related genes of female foetuses in utero .…”

Emotional Abuse Towards Children by Schoolteachers in Aden Governorate, Yemen: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Although the evidence is conflicting, it may be that the detrimental effects of the Dutch famine extended into the following generation, with the offspring of women born in the famine found to have a lower birth weight [161,181]. Similar associations between early-life famine exposure and subsequent elevated chronic disease risk were reported following the Biafran conflict of 1968 to 1970 [182], and the Chinese famine of 1959 to 1961 [183][184][185][186]. In the latter, early-life exposure was also associated with increased risk of schizophrenia [187,188].…”

The famine exposure in early life and metabolic syndrome in adulthood

“…It is a catastrophe in human history, but now it is a valuable chance to investigate the relationship between famine exposure and MS in Chinese. In China, just two studies examined this association and revealed a significant association between famine exposure during fetus and infancy and higher risk of MS in adulthood [13,14], though the only study based on Dutch Famine found no significant association [15]. In these studies, they used ATP III [16] and Chinese Diabetes Society criteria [14].…”