ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. General Cardiovascular Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1473602
Fetal exposure to famine increased the risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood: findings from a population-based screening study
Provisionally accepted
- Henan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhengzhou, China
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Abstract Introduction:Undernutrition during early life may increase the risk of chronic diseases in adulthood. The study was aimed to investigate whether fetal exposure to famine would increase the risk of cardiovascular disease(CVD) in adult life. Materials and methods:Data was from 16 sites in Henan province of China Patient-centered evaluative assessment of cardiac events Million Persons Project. The fetal-exposed group was defined as participants born from 1, January 1959 to 31, December 1961, and the nonexposed group was defined as participants born from 1, January 1955 to 31, December 1957, and from 1, January 1963 to 31, December 1965. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models were used to explore the association between fetal exposure to famine and CVD in adulthood, with adjustment for age, sex, education, family annual income, current smoke, drink, BMI, anti-hypertensive drugs, anti-diabetic drugs, and lipid-lowering drugs. Results: Fetal exposure to famine would increase the risk of total CVD(OR=1.25, 95%CI 1.14-1.38), coronary heart disease(OR=1.25, 95%CI 1.05-1.47), stroke(OR=1.22, 95%CI 1.09-1.36) and 10-year CVD risk(OR=1.22, 95%CI 1.14-1.31) compared with the nonexposed group. Stratified analysis suggested when exposure to famine in fetal period, male had a higher risk of CVD than female in adulthood(Male:OR=1.26, 95%CI 110-1.44; Female:OR=1.23, 95%CI 1.12-1.35) and the population in rural areas had a higher risk of CVD than that in urban areas(Rural:OR=1.30, 95%CI 1.15-1.48; Urban:OR=1.20, 95%CI 1.05-1.39). Discussion:Fetal exposure to famine would increase the risk of total CVD, coronary heart disease, stroke, and 10-year CVD risk in Henan province. The association was pronounced in males and the rural areas.
Keywords: famine, early life, cvd, Henan Province, Famine,Early life, China PEACE
Received: 10 Dec 2024; Accepted: 08 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kai, Hui, Jie, Xian, Xue, Liang, Gao and Lei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kang Kai, Henan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhengzhou, China
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