AUTHOR=Wang Zhenghe , Dong Yanhui , Xu Rongbin , Wang Xijie , Li Yanhui , Zou Zhiyong 

TITLE=Early-Life Exposure to the Chinese Great Famine and Later Cardiovascular Diseases

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 66 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2021.603859

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2021.603859

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=Objective This study aimed to examine the association between early life famine exposure and adulthood cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) risk.
Design Data analysis from a national Cross-sectional survey.
Setting and participants 5,504 subjects were selected using their birthdate from national baseline data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey to analyze the association between famine exposure in early life and CVDs risk in adulthood.
Main outcome measures CVDs was defined based on the self-reported doctor's diagnosis of stroke or cardiac events (including heart attack, coronary heart disease, angina, congestive heart failure, or other heart problems). 
Results The prevalence of CVDs in the unexposed group, fetal-exposed, infant-exposed, and preschool-exposed groups was 15.0%, 18.0%, 21.0%, and 18.3%, respectively. Compared with the unexposed group, fetal-exposed, infant-exposed and preschool-exposed groups had higher CVDs risk in adulthood (P<0.05), even after adjusting for covariates (P<0.05). Compared with the age-matched control group, infancy exposed to famine had a significantly higher adulthood CVDs risk (OR=1.52, 95%CI: 1.15, 2.01; P=0.006). The association seems to be stronger among population with higher education level (Pinteraction=0.043). In addition, sensitivity analysis revealed consistent association between early-life famine exposure and adult CVDs risk when excluding subjects born between October 1, 1962 and September 30, 1964 from unexposed group.
Conclusions Early life exposed to the China great famine may elevate the risk of CVDs in adulthood.