Cholesterol levels in later life amongst UK Channel Islanders exposed to the 1940-45 German occupation as children, adolescents and young adults.
BACKGROUND
To clarify the nature of the relationship between: food deprivation and undernutrition during pre- and postnatal development; and cholesterol levels in later life, this study examined the relationship between birth weight (as a marker of prenatal nutrition) and cholesterol levels among 396 Guernsey islanders (born in 1923-1937), 87 of whom (22%) had been exposed to food deprivation as children, adolescents or young adults (i.e. to postnatal undernutrition) during the 1940-45 German occupation of the Channel Islands, and 309 of whom (78%) had left or been evacuated from the islands before the occupation began.


METHODS
Three sets of multiple regression models were used to investigate: Model A - the relationship between birth weight and cholesterol levels; Model B - the relationship between postnatal exposure to the occupation and cholesterol levels; and Model C - any interaction between birth weight, postnatal exposure to the occupation and cholesterol levels. Model A and Model B also tested for any interactions between: birth weight/occupation exposure and sex; and birth weight/occupation exposure and parish of residence at birth (as a marker of parish of residence during the occupation and related variation in the severity of food deprivation).


RESULTS
Before (and after) adjusting for potential confounders, no statistically significant relationships were observed between either birth weight (before adjustment: 0.09 mmol/l per kg increase, 95% CI: -0.30, 0.16; after adjustment: 0.08 mmol/l per kg increase, 95%CI: -0.17, 0.34) or exposure to the occupation (before adjustment: 0.01 mmol/l for exposed group, 95%CI: -0.24, 0.27; after adjustment: 0.04 mmol/l for exposed group, 95%CI: -0.26, 0.33) and cholesterol levels in later life. There was also little evidence of significant relationships between birth weight, exposure to the occupation and cholesterol levels in later life when Model A and Model B were stratified by sex or parish of residence at birth, although there was a significant positive relationship between birth weight and cholesterol levels in women (0.44 mmol/l per kg increase, 95%CI: 0.07, 0.81).


CONCLUSIONS
These analyses provide little support for the theory that birth weight is inversely related to cholesterol levels in later life. and do not offer any evidence in support of a relationship between undernutrition in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood and cholesterol levels in later life. However, further research may determine whether undernutrition at different stages of the life-course may influence cholesterol levels in later life.
Head
Rosemary F
RF
St George's, University of London. rosie.green@natcen.ac.uk
Gilthorpe
Mark S
MS
Ellison
George T H
GT
D000293:Adolescent; D001724:Birth Weight; D002603:Channel Islands; D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D006113:United Kingdom; D047789:World War II; D055815:Young Adult
D002784:Cholesterol