Exposure to the Chinese famine in early life and hypertension prevalence risk in adults.
Famine exposure in early life has been reported to be associated with higher risk of hypertension prevalence in adults. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of exposure to the Chinese famine during early life with the risk of hypertension prevalence in adults.



There were 8742 participants born between 1952 and 1964 derived from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort included in the present study. Participants were classified as nonexposed group, fetal exposed group, early-childhood exposed group, mid-childhood exposed group, and late-childhood exposed group, respectively. Logistic regression model was used to explore the association between famine exposure in early life and risk of hypertension prevalence in adults.



The prevalence of hypertension among individuals in nonexposed group, fetal exposed group, early-childhood exposed group, mid-childhood exposed group, and late-childhood exposed group were 34.0, 38.0, 43.9, 47.4, and 54.4%, respectively. Compared with nonexposed group, participants exposed to the famine in the fetal [1.24, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.51], early childhood (1.44, 95% CI: 1.20-1.73), mid-childhood (1.67, 95% CI: 1.38-2.02), and late childhood (2.11, 95% CI: 1.75-2.55) had higher risk of hypertension prevalence in adults after adjustment for potential confounders (P for trend <0.0001). Adjustment for age did not materially change the results.



Results in the present study indicated that exposure to the famine in early life increases the risk of hypertension prevalence in adulthood.
aDepartment of Occupational and Environmental Health and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health for Incubating, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan bDongfeng Central Hospital, Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan cDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Caizheng
C
Yu
Jing
J
Wang
Yaru
Y
Li
Xu
X
Han
Hua
H
Hu
Fei
F
Wang
Jing
J
Yuan
Ping
P
Yao
Xiaoping
X
Miao
Sheng
S
Wei
Youjie
Y
Wang
Weihong
W
Chen
Yuan
Y
Liang
Xiaomin
X
Zhang
Huan
H
Guo
Handong
H
Yang
Tangchun
T
Wu
Meian
M
He
D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D013217:Starvation / Q000453:epidemiology*