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Epidemiology

Prenatal exposure to the Chinese famine and the risk of metabolic syndrome in adulthood across consecutive generations

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 74, pages 1229–1236 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

The purpose of our study was to explore the relation of prenatal exposure to the Chinese famine and the risk of metabolic syndrome in adulthood in consecutive generations.

Subjects/methods

A total of 960 families, including 1920 parents (F1) who were born near the time of the Great Chinese famine and 1145 of their offspring (F2), were selected from the Suihua rural area. Parental participants were defined as nonexposed (born between 1 October 1956 and 30 September 1958 or between 1 October 1962 and 30 September 1964) and famine exposed (born between 1 October 1959 and 30 September 1961). In F2, participants were divided into having no parents exposed to famine, only a mother exposed to famine, only a father exposed to famine or both parents exposed to famine. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the International Diabetes Federation criteria.

Results

Exposure to famine during gestation was associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio: 2.79, 95% confidence interval: 2.16, 3.60) in F1 adults. However, similar association was not observed (maternal: odds ratio: 1.33, 95% confidence interval: 0.69, 2.52; paternal: odds ratio: 1.67, 95% confidence interval: 0.87, 3.21; parental: odds ratio: 1.25, 95% confidence interval: 0.68, 2.31) in F2 adults.

Conclusions

Exposure to the Chinese famine during foetal life was associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome in F1 participants. In F2 adults, there might be an important relationship between exposure to famine and the risk of metabolic syndrome with increasing age.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate that all staff from the Suihua Beilin CDC of Heilongjiang Province and nurses working in local hospitals positively participated in our study. Students from the Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene supported this study by collecting and sorting data.

Funding

This research was funded and supported by the Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University & the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, College of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150081, Heilongjiang, PR China

    Shiwei Yan, Wanying Hou, Huanyu Wu, Wenbo Jiang, Yinling Li, Yuan Zhang, Hongyin Li, Sen Yang, Changhao Sun, Tianshu Han & Ying Li

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  1. Shiwei Yan
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Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to this article. TSH conceived and designed the study. WBJ arranged a series of procedures to achieve population data. SWY analysed the data, interpreted the results and wrote and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Changhao Sun, Tianshu Han or Ying Li.

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Yan, S., Hou, W., Wu, H. et al. Prenatal exposure to the Chinese famine and the risk of metabolic syndrome in adulthood across consecutive generations. Eur J Clin Nutr 74, 1229–1236 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-0561-3

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