ArticleThorax2000
Atopy, lung function, and obstructive airways disease after prenatal exposure to famine.
Article in Thorax, 2000. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 232 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maternal diet in pregnancy and child's respiratory outcomes: an individual participant data meta-analysis of 18 000 children.The European respiratory journal · 2022Pooled it
- A systematic review of the health effects of prenatal exposure to disaster.International journal of public health · 2015Pooled it
- Preterm birth, infant weight gain, and childhood asthma risk: a meta-analysis of 147,000 European children.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2014Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Maternal and perinatal nutritional programming of lung health and disease in childhood and early adulthood: Research gaps and opportunities-National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/National Institutes of Health Workshop Report.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2026Article
- The association between birthweight and adult lung function: insights from the UK Biobank.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- The evolving pathophysiology of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.Physiological reviews · 2026Review
- What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger? Examining Relationships Between Early-Life Stress, Later-Life Inflammation and Mortality Risk in Skeletal Remains.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025Article
- The Impact of Malnutrition on the Developing Lung and Long-Term Lung Health: A Narrative Review of Global Literature.Pulmonary therapy · 2024Review
- Can birth weight predict offspring's lung function in adult age? Evidence from two Swedish birth cohorts.Respiratory research · 2022Article
- Maternal Distress during Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: Underlying Mechanisms and Child's Developmental Outcomes-A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Thyroid Function at Age Fifty After Prenatal Famine Exposure in the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
- Early-Life Exposure to Malnutrition From the Chinese Famine on Risk of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Adulthood.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- Cohort profile: the Dutch famine birth cohort (DFBC)- a prospective birth cohort study in the Netherlands.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Perinatal Nutritional and Metabolic Pathways: Early Origins of Chronic Lung Diseases.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Review
- Lung functional development and asthma trajectories.Seminars in immunopathology · 2020Review
- Low lung function in the developing world is analogous to stunting: a review of the evidence.Wellcome open research · 2020Article
- Review
- The relationship between IGF-I and -II concentrations and body composition at birth and over the first 2 months.Pediatric research · 2019Article
- Iron as a model nutrient for understanding the nutritional origins of neuropsychiatric disease.Pediatric research · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAssociations have been found between a large head size at birth and atopy, and between low birth weight and obstructive airways disease. A study was undertaken of people born around the time of the Dutch famine in 1944-5 to determine the effects of maternal malnutrition during specific periods of gestation on the prevalence of obstructive airways disease and atopy.
methodsNine hundred and twelve people aged about 50, born at term between November 1943 and February 1947 in Amsterdam, were asked about their medical history. Lung function was measured in 733 and serum concentrations of total IgE and specific IgE against mite, pollen and cat were measured in 726. Those exposed in late, mid, and early gestation (exposed participants) were compared with those born before or conceived after the famine (non-exposed participants).
resultsExposure to famine during gestation affected neither the concentrations of total or specific IgE nor lung function values. The prevalence of obstructive airways disease was increased in people exposed to famine in mid gestation (odds ratio adjusted for sex 1.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1 to 2.6) and tended to be higher in those exposed in early gestation (odds ratio 1.5, 95% CI 0. 9 to 2.6).
conclusionsThe observed increase in the prevalence of obstructive airways disease in people exposed to famine in mid and early gestation was not parallelled by effects on IgE concentrations or lung function. The link between exposure to famine in mid and early gestation and obstructive airways disease in adulthood suggests that fetal lungs can be permanently affected by nutritional challenges during periods of rapid growth.
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Registered trials
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